


sometimes, things don't go as planned

by kissgirls



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Crushes, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Frustration, High School, High School Drama, gotta love it, i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-05-07 04:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14663283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissgirls/pseuds/kissgirls
Summary: Piper doesn't remember when, exactly, this rivalry with Reyna started- only that it was in freshman year, and that it started over Annabeth Chase. Eventually, it spread to other areas- academics, sports, clubs, etc- both trying to best each other in each and everything. Piper doesn't remember when, exactly, it snapped back to Annabeth, but it's almost like they sensed this was going to happen. Like their subconsciouses knew and were trying to clue them in, but they were too dumb to figure it out. Too wrapped up in each other to realize thatotherpeople liked Annabeth, too.Percy Jackson, one of Piper's best friends and family, wraps his arm around Annabeth at lunch as she calls the table's attention, and Piper's heart drops.





	1. sleepover

**Author's Note:**

> HEY THERE I HAVE THIS ALL PLANNED OUT LETS SEE HOW THIS GOES
> 
> i have another pipeyna story i'm doing too, but this has top priority atm bc i am in Love
> 
> leave a comment!!! please, i live on them.

**001. _sleepover._**  

 

“Alright,” the Economics teacher sighs, glaring at each student in turn as if it’s _their_ fault he has a hangover on a Monday morning. “There’s an assignment at the front of the room. Grab a sheet and complete it quietly, please. It’s on the notes we took last week.”

If he wanted to blame someone, he should take that up with the school board, Piper thinks, annoyed, and shifts in her seat. She meets her best friend Annabeth’s eyes and Annabeth rolls them dramatically. Piper stifles a giggle and the jolt that runs through her when grey eyes look at her.

”It _will_ be a participation grade, so you better be working on it," Mr. D adds irritably a second later. For a second, it feels as if he's glaring at  _Piper_ , but he just lets out a huff.

Mr. Diomidi- or Mr. D, as they call him, because he’s tired of how they pronounce his last name incorrectly- takes a seat in his chair as students get up from their seats with whispers of clothing and kicking of bags that are splayed in the isles of desks. He's always irritable and grumpy about something, and generally could not care less about his class. It's funny, because despite how much of an asshole he is, his class is one of Piper's favorites.

Piper gets up from her seat with the rest of the class and Annabeth looks at her with a silent plea- Piper can never disappoint Annabeth, even if it’s for something so small. She nods and Annabeth beams at her, sending Piper’s heart racing.

By the time Piper gets to the front of the room, Mr. D is already passed out on his desk, and she can’t help but snort.

“Is he really passed out?” Annabeth asks when Piper returns with their papers. Her fingers brush Piper’s when Piper hands it over, and Piper smiles at the warm feeling it gives her. She nods in response as the class starts to buzz around them.

“Like a light.” Piper practically falls into her seat, avoiding stepping on someone’s backpack that’s been kicked just in front of her seat. With a jolt, she realizes it’s hers, and moves it quickly out of the way. “He’ll probably wake up any minute though.”

Annabeth lets out a low whistle, but they’re close enough to the front that Mr. D jerks in his sleep. Piper lets out a breath of a laugh when he doesn’t wake up. “Must’ve partied hard last night.”

“Oh, definitely.”

They grin at each other, and Annabeth turns to her paper. Knowing she should be doing the same- as Mr. D has a knack for knowing who's working even when he's asleep- Piper steals a glance, instead.

Annabeth is pretty- incredibly so. Her blonde curls are wrapped up in a ponytail that gleams in the morning light from the classroom window. Her skin still glows with a tan from spending her summer outside with their friends. She can’t see them, but Piper can imagine focused, startling grey eyes. Eyes that can read you like a book.

Realizing she’s staring a little too long, Piper turns to her work.

Piper’s had a crush on Annabeth since freshman year. Since the moment Annabeth sat next to her during orientation, held out her hand for Piper to shake, and said, “Name’s Annabeth Chase. What’s yours?” It’s a little embarrassing, sometimes, when Annabeth catches Piper staring, but Piper can’t seem to stop, and Annabeth seems to never figure out what it means. Which is fine by Piper, really, because if she were to _ever_ find out, Piper wants to be the one to tell her. Piper wants to be the one to tell her about how much she likes her.

Piper is finishing up the first section when Annabeth starts to hum some pop song that’s been playing on the radio for the past few days. It’s strange- Annabeth’s not usually a morning person. She has good days, as everyone does, but Piper has never heard her _hum_ before. Stranger still- she doesn’t ask for Piper’s help. Despite being one of the best students, Annabeth has dyslexia. Often, she gets so frustrated that she’ll have Piper read things that just aren’t making sense, but today, she keeps humming as if she has the patience of a saint. It takes a little while for Piper to realize she’s actually _done_ and doodling something on her paper. A building, Piper guesses, because Annabeth is into architecture. Only it looks kind of- kind of _strange_ to be the shape of a building.

“Done already?” Piper teases. She lets out a fake gasp. “And _doodling_? Shame on you, ‘beth-”

Annabeth not-so-discreetly covers the doodle with her hand and a squeak when Piper tries to take a look, face red and burning, and eyes looking anywhere but Piper. Piper raises a suspicious eyebrow, but Annabeth’s cheeks darken.

“A _secret_ doodle, I see,” Piper muses. Annabeth sticks out her tongue. “And I heard you humming, earlier. Are you in a good mood or _what_?”

“Oh shut up,” Annabeth mutters, fueling Piper’s amused grin. “I have good moods.”

“Rarely, and it’s never ‘just a good mood’. Anything I should know?”

Annabeth still won’t meet her eyes, and her cheeks are incredibly red. Piper’s heart jumps in her chest and she feels like it’ll jump _out_ of it. “I’ll tell you at lunch.”

The fifty minutes of first period must’ve already passed, because the bell rings and releases them to their second period. Mr. D sits up calmly- a red line across his forehead- and frowns as the class collectively hurries to get out of the door. Annabeth smiles at her- flushed and embarrassed- and dashes out of the classroom before Piper can even follow her.

 

Second period is Chemistry in the main hall with all of the other science rooms, which Piper enters in sort of a daze. The rest of the class is already there- as usual- sitting at long, rectangular tables with black surfaces that are stained with fingerprints and lingering chemicals as they chat and talk. Reyna Avila Ramírez Arellano, with her long, sleek black hair tied back in a french braid and regal brown eyes, throws her a side glance from the back of the classroom when she walks into the room, and Piper sends back a glare. There’s only one seat left, however, beside Reyna in the entire classroom, and she’s forced to sit there. Reyna scrunches up her nose in distaste, and Piper shrugs.

Between them, there’s sort of this rivalry.

Piper doesn’t really remember the exact time it started, but it was sometime during freshman year, when Piper realized Reyna liked Annabeth just as much as she did. And that Annabeth considered Reyna as much of a best friend as she considered Piper, which, admittedly and stupidly, had stung. Piper said something stupid- as freshman do- to Reyna, and it just kind of- _bloomed_ from there. It spread into other areas too- academics, sports, clubs. There’s always _something_ they’re going after, and recently, it’s gone back to fighting over Annabeth.

As soon as Piper sits down, however, she’s lost in thoughts of _what-ifs_ and daydreams of what Annabeth could possibly have to tell her, instead of pondering too hard on Reyna. It’s a high school girl’s fantasy that she can’t help but indulge in- Annabeth blushed. Like, _really_ blushed- so much, Piper thought her cheeks might catch on fire- over a doodle on her Economics worksheet.  It made her _excited_ and _hopeful_.

Piper’s crush on Annabeth has extended over _years_ \- from the beginning of freshman year, in fact. It’s the only crush she hasn’t managed to shake off quite yet- because high school is full of crushes and drama. What would high school, pray tell, be like without it?

Chemistry is long and boring. Her teacher- one she can’t quite remember the name of, still, after being in school for two months- lectures on some of the notes she gave them and then gives them busy work to prepare them for their test for the rest of class. It’s a chill day compared to most Chemistry classes, which Piper is thankful for. She can’t focus on anything else other that _Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth_ , and still can’t focus on anything.

What if Annabeth likes her back? Oh, _god_ , please let her like her back, Piper’s been after her for _years_ . What if Annabeth- what if- _what if_ -

 _Stop_ , Piper finally ends up thinking, scribbling in something onto her worksheet that _sounds_ right. _Don’t get your hopes up. Something great probably happened, and you’ll be upset when it’s not what you think. Just wait_.

Waiting, Piper realizes, is not her strong suit.

“Distracted, hm, Piper?” Reyna remarks casually from beside her. Piper throws her a smirk.

“Can’t help it. Exciting things may be happening today,” Piper says. _Hope Levels raised by 200%. Mission: failed_ . Reyna raises her eyebrows in question, but Piper doesn’t let her reply. She takes her earphones out of her bag, plugs them in, and lets the sound of _Walk The Moon_ wash over her.

 

Government has Percy in it. Percy’s a cool dude- he’s in her friend group, and he’s like a brother Piper never go to have, in some ways. They’re pretty close, Piper likes to think, and can talk about a lot of things together. Lately, he’s been hung up over a girl that he won’t tell Piper the name of, no matter how many times she asks him about it, and on any other day, Piper would be rushing to ask him more about it.

She’s still caught up in her head when she gets to Government, though. Percy’s there before her- because his class is two doors down and hers is downstairs in the main hallway- and is messing with his bag as if he’s looking for something when Piper walks up.

“Hey,” Piper greets him, taking out an ear bud as she gets closer to their seats together. Percy grins and waves at her in response, giving up on his mysterious bag search. “Any luck with that girl yet?”

Percy’s cheeks turn bright red and sea green eyes suddenly don’t want to meet hers. Piper raises an eyebrow and grins in amusement. “Really now?”

“Shut up, Piper.”

“Does this mean I finally get to know who it is?”

Percy’s doing that thing he does when he’s nervous and excited- his leg is shaking like a maraca and he’s having trouble meeting her eyes fully, still. He shrugs, however, like it’s not a big deal. “At lunch, I think.”

Piper’s eyebrows raise. Dread fills her stomach- a sinking feeling that gets more prominent as the seconds go by. “Lunch?”

Percy nods, his leg still shaking and making tapping noises on the ground that suddenly has Piper on edge. “She didn’t want to tell anyone until everyone was together. Thought Calypso might get upset, y’know, because they don’t have class together until the end of the day, and Calypso likes to know _everything_.”

The dread in her stomach spreads and Piper feels stupid. She should have kept her hopes grounded. She just prayed she was wrong, that Percy and Annabeth had different news to tell. “You sure you can’t tell me who it is?”

“Sorry. A- she’d kill me if I told you before she could.”

“Alright, class, sit down in your seats please, we’ve got a lot to do today,” Piper’s Government teacher grumbles. He’s an older man- glasses, aging hairline, a bit of a belly. He’s nice, mostly, and tells stories that help Piper remember his lectures, but Piper has never wished for him to be gone more than now. “We’ve got notes to take before our quiz next Tuesday.”

The rest of the class groans, and Piper takes her seat hesitantly, cursing for an entirely different reason than the rest of the class. She throws Percy a glance, but he’s already getting out his notes and avoiding her eyes, just like Annabeth had this morning.

 _Please_ , Piper thinks to herself. _Let me be wrong_.

 

She isn’t, in fact, wrong. For once, Piper wishes she hadn’t been able to put together the pieces of this puzzle.

Halfway through third period, the bell rings for lunch and Percy all but skips out of there, grabbing Piper’s wrist and tugging her along like a rag doll.

Annabeth calls their table’s attention as soon as the rest arrive- Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Reyna, Calypso Titanes, Jason Grace, Percy, and Piper herself- to tell them the news. Piper can feel her heart sinking, sinking, sinking, when Percy puts his arm around Annabeth’s shoulders, and Calypso lets out an excited squeal. She can feel herself pull back when Frank and Jason offer their ‘about time’s and Leo makes a joke that makes Hazel hit him upside the head. She can feel her eyes sting as they meet Reyna’s, who looks as heartbroken as she feels.

“We’re dating,” Annabeth says, even though it’s obvious. She has a smile so wide, Piper’s momentarily afraid her lips will split. Percy looks just as happy, if not _more_. He actually kisses the side of Annabeth’s head and something breaks a little.

Piper feels like crying, suddenly, which is stupid. It’s stupid, she thinks, to want to cry over this- this _miniscule_ thing. Annabeth’s just with someone now. It’s not the end of the world. But her lip is quivering, her eyes sting a little, and Piper thinks she’s tired. Yeah, that’s it. She’s tired. That’s all it is.

Annabeth is looking at her, and Piper isn’t sure what her facial expression looks like when she does, but she quickly transforms it into something else. She smiles widely like she’s about to burst with excitement, except her lips keep quivering and pulling down, and her eyes don’t crinkle as much as she wants them to, but Annabeth seems too excited to notice.

“Oh my god, that’s awesome!” Piper forces out in an obnoxiously cheery voice to keep Annabeth from noticing further, but Annabeth notices anyway. Of course she does. She starts to frown, but Piper won’t ruin this for her. She puts every bit of her best acting into her words now. “I’m so happy for you guys- it’s about time.”

Annabeth looks so happy to hear that, really. Piper thinks maybe she sees the smallest bit of worry in her eyes, but Annabeth’s already turning towards Reyna, who hasn’t said much either. Reyna looks up to meet Annabeth’s eyes, and Piper can see the hurt. She can see it because she _feels_ it. But Reyna just smiles softly up at Annabeth, who’s beaming, and says, “that’s great. Does that mean I have to get along with him now?”

The table laughs and Annabeth rolls her eyes, but the grin doesn’t falter. “Yeah, I think you do.”

When Annabeth’s attention gets turned to Calypso, Frank, and Hazel, and Percy is talking with Jason, Rachel, and Leo, Piper is the only one to see Reyna’s smile fall.

Misery sure does love its company.

 

_The call picks up with a quiet, “hey, Pipes, aren’t you in school?”_

_“Hey, dad? Can you pick me up early?”_

_“Why, what’s up?”_

_“I’m not- I’m not feeling too well right now. Can you just- please?”_

_A worried sigh. “Alright- alright, I’m on my way.”_

 


	2. let it be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything hurts, Piper feels overwhelmingly Stupid, Reyna seems as upset as she does, and a plan is formed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen,,,, so piper's pov is kind of dramatic, i think, but i couldn't figure out how to keep her in character and also keep the story going (plus, i'm dramatic) so shhh just go with it

**002. _let it be._**

 

The next morning is sluggish. Piper didn’t cry the night before, not over this, but she sure as hell feels like she did, and she sure as hell got close. Sleep wasn’t willing the night before- she can feel the bags it left behind. All she could think of, over and over in her head like a mantra, was _Annabeth and Percy, Annabeth and Percy, Percy and Annabeth. Their names sound good together- Percy and Annabeth- I wonder if Annabeth feels as happy with him as I am around her. Annabeth and Percy, Annabeth and Percy. They’ll be good together._

Piper can barely keep her eyes open as she travels through white-tiled halls, passing students chatting to themselves. Economics went by quickly that morning- Annabeth was now worried that she was coming down with something with how tired she looked. Piper had the urge to tell her the _real_ reason, but what kind of person would that make of her? She was already making such a big deal over it.

Sometime during first and second period, Piper finds herself in the bathroom, breathing in as much air as she can and trying to keep her emotions down. It’s extremely hard to do it when she feels like a glass so full, she could move a certain way- too quickly- and spill over. The bathrooms are gross to cry in- and there’s always a strong smell of perfume in one of the stalls, but it’s a weird type of perfume that just smells shitty. She gets out of there as soon as she doesn’t feel like she’ll burst into tears at the first sight of the word ‘ _heartbreak_ ’.

Someone bumps into her as she makes her way to her AP Language class, and with a start, she realizes it’s Reyna. Reyna, who looks like she didn’t get a blink of sleep either. She blinks at Reyna’s back. Reyna doesn't spare her a glance. Piper bites her lip in concern, but doesn't do anything.

After that, she goes to class. As much as she would like for it to, her AP Language class doesn't hold her full attention either- she dozes off as her teacher discusses different terms instead of taking the notes she should be. She doesn't know what they did at all, and she'll have to go and ask Calypso, maybe, if she can fill her in later, but she's so tired. And her mind is still in an endless loop of 'what if's and 'they look good together's.

It’s a miserable way to think, Piper knows. And yet, the thoughts still follow her- still haunt her- until she gets to her French class.

Fate has it out for her, apparently, because the only seat left in the class is yet again beside Reyna. Maybe she should find a different route to her classes- one of the guys from her class before is here already- so she doesn’t always have to get the last seat available.

Reyna doesn’t even look at her when she takes her seat, to Piper’s confusion and relief. She does, however, pipe up with a small, “where were you yesterday?”

At first, it doesn’t exactly _hit_ Piper what she’s talking about. Yesterday? Does she mean when Piper called her dad up and left school early? Does she mean when she skipped practice-

Oh.

“Shit,” Piper breathes out, staring at the side of Reyna’s face. “Fuck, I totally-”

“Forgot?” Piper can only see the side of Reyna’s face, but it’s her lips are pulled into an exasperated smile. Piper can feel her stomach drop. The bell rings. “That’s evident. The rest of the team was there, but you weren’t.”

In sophomore year, Piper joined the varsity lacrosse team in an attempt to one-up Reyna. Even now, she’s not exactly sure how that’s one-upping- maybe just trying to be involved in more things- especially because she didn’t even _play_ lacrosse before then, but Reyna followed along and joined the team too. Unfortunately for Piper, Reyna actually made captain, but Piper’s stayed true and has been in lacrosse ever since.

And last night, she was so distracted, she skipped out on practice.

“Fuck, I completely forgot about that,” Piper says as their French teacher takes her place in the front of the room, calling the class into attention all around them. “I was distracted-”

“Yeah, well, I was, too, but I still made it to practice,” Reyna says smartly. She pulls out a notebook and notes and pins her with a sharp, cold stare. Her eyes look worse than they did this morning- the bags are more prominent, now. “Just don’t skip again.”

Reyna ignores her after that, and Piper curses softly. Whatever. Reyna could be mad at her if she wanted. Piper needed that break.

 _But_ , Piper’s thoughts persist as their teacher starts speaking in rapid French, _didn’t Reyna need one, too?_

Piper decides not to listen to that part of herself. It doesn’t work, sadly, because the feeling of guilt digs into her chest like shovels, and Piper finds herself unfocused once again. She can’t follow a word her teacher is saying as class goes on, her wrist is calling her insistently to check the time, and she starts to get annoyed. She starts to get annoyed at what this is doing to her- what her stupid little _crush_ is doing to her. As soon as the bell rings, Piper’s already packed her materials into her bag and almost storming out of the room, to the locker rooms for practice (she’s not skipping again, no siree). Practice, when she does make it, is spent sharing pained and fleeting glances with Reyna, and wondering how and why her life became so painful.

  
  


She avoids Annabeth for a few days. Sitting in her classroom during lunch instead of with the group, taking different routes, coming in late to Econ so she has no other choice but to take the last seat, far from Annabeth. It’s better this way, Piper tries to convince herself.

It’s just better like this.

  


The group has noticed, too. Piper gets texts from them- Jason, Leo, and Hazel the most. They ask her what’s wrong, why won’t you come to lunch anymore. Is it Annabeth and Percy, they question, because everyone knows about her crush on Annabeth. Except Annabeth herself. Piper doesn’t answer any of them straight out, and avoids them, too.

Hazel, who Piper shares AP Language with and is ever persistent, encourages Piper to come back to the lunch table.

“You don’t need to ignore all of us,” she reasons. “We can ask them to tone it down or something, just don’t ignore everyone. Please, Piper.”

Piper shakes her head. “I need a little time alone.”

“It’s been a week, Piper,” Hazel says, sounding frustrated. “Can you just- how much more time do you need?”

Piper shrugs. Hazel frowns, but the teacher calls attention to the front of the room, and the conversation is cut short.

 

Hazel starts sitting with her at lunch. So she’s not alone, Hazel reasons. It helps, but not enough to come back just yet.

  


Annabeth notices that Piper’s ignoring her. She notices, and Piper can sense her frustration and anger. But it’s better for her to heal at a distance. It just- it has to be like this.

  
  


After her AP class one day, Piper steps out of her classroom just to notice Annabeth leaning against the wall by the bathrooms, looking around anxiously. For a moment, Piper freezes, because Annabeth never waits for her, and it gives Annabeth enough time to spot her. She smiles and waves.

“Piper!”

She’s getting closer- step by step by step and Piper’s heart is racing. She can’t do this right now, she can’t do this right now-

Piper ends up running before she realizes it.

“Piper, wait-”

But she’s gone.

  
  


 

 

 

It’s just better like this.

  


 

 

 

 

It’s week three since Annabeth and Percy got together before anything really happens.

 

_Saturday, November 12th, 2018_

**annie <3 **1:30 PM

_hey, pipes?_

**annie <3 **1:30 PM

_i need a favor._

**pipes** 1:35 PM

sure whats up?

 

 **annie <3** 1:36 PM

_can you come over in like ten minutes?_

**annie <3** 1:36 PM

_it’s super important._

  


**pipes** 1:38 PM

….okay. omw.

  


Contact edited at 1:49 PM: **annie </3**

 

“I’ve got some things picked out upstairs already,” Annabeth tells her, holding a straightener in one hand, the cord flopping around and dragging along the floor, and holding a brush in the other. “But Calypso said I was hopeless when it comes to outfits, so I figured I should ask your opinion.”

Piper kind of feels like throwing up. Or opening up Annabeth’s front door and running right back out of it. But Annabeth looks at her questioningly and expectantly, and Piper’s hand slips off of the handle. She follows Annabeth willingly, yet hesitantly, up the stairs, where Annabeth’s closet and makeup surely awaits them.

“Annie,” Piper tries when Annabeth doesn’t stop in front of her bedroom door and continues to head towards the bathroom. “You know I suck at makeup.”

Annabeth laughs and, when they reach the bathroom, opens the door. Inside reveals makeup kits and various tubes all over the bathroom counter, a stool Piper recognizes from the dining table pulled up to it. “I know, I do, too. But we’ll figure it out. Hazel sent me some makeup tutorials earlier. I could probably find them real quick.”

“Shouldn’t that be something you, like, shouldn’t wing?” Piper asks, and Annabeth shrugs.

“Probably not. But I want _us_ to do the makeup, you know? Who other than my best friend to help me prepare for my date?”

The word ‘ _date_ ’ hangs in the air, and Piper itches to leave again. But Annabeth looks at her, and Piper can’t think. She sighs, taking the brush and straightener from Annabeth as Annabeth takes a seat on the stool. She plugs in the straightener and sets down the brush, and Annabeth smiles at her in the mirror.

“Shouldn’t, like, Calypso and Hazel be over here, too?” Piper suggests casually, threading Annabeth’s hair into sections while the straighteners heat up. She doesn’t want to be alone with Annabeth, preparing Annabeth for a date with someone else. She feels selfish, but it hurts, it hurts _so much_. Pushing it down isn’t helping any. “They’re both more into this… makeup scene than we are.”

Annabeth studies herself in the mirror, then glances down at her makeup on the counter. “Nah, we’ve got it. Percy’s coming at five anyway, so we have plenty of time to mess up and restart.”

She picks up an eyeshadow palette Piper recognizes as the one her stepmother gave her last spring. “Besides…,” Annabeth says slowly, meeting Piper’s eyes in the mirror again as Piper grabs the straightener. “I wanted to talk to you, y’know. Just us- just you and me.”

“What do you mean? We talk just us all the time.”

“Yeah, but not _lately_. Lately you’ve been closed off and distant, and sometimes, when I look at you and you think no one’s looking, you look like you’re about to cry.” Annabeth turns then and Piper yelps, narrowly avoiding a burn Annabeth’s shoulder. They’re close- Annabeth’s bathroom is barely big enough for the two of them, and sometimes Piper would get high on the proximity between them. There’s the mirror on the wall, the counter, barely four feet of space, and then the shower door. When Annabeth turns, if Piper moved, her leg would brush against Annabeth’s, and if she moved a little more, she could brush against her hand. Instead, Piper discreetly moves away from her touch, and Annabeth notices.

“You keep moving away from me all the time. You don’t want to hang out anymore,” Annabeth states seriously, staring Piper down. Piper looks away and focuses on the door, breathing in and out as calmly as she can. From the corner of her eye, Annabeth’s face scrunches up in concern and frustration. “You don’t want to sit next me in Econ or sit at the lunch table with everyone. I can’t even catch you after class, you just run away! And then there’s Reyna, who suddenly won’t even-”

“What’s wrong with Reyna?”

“It’s nothing,” Annabeth says. “It’s probably nothing. Just tell me what’s wrong, Piper. What did I do?”

Piper doesn’t want to get into this right now. But Annabeth is looking at her so distraught- so sadly- that she knows she has to say _something_.

“You didn’t do anything,” Piper mumbles. She still doesn’t look at Annabeth. “I just- I’m having trouble with accepting something right now. I’ll be better, I promise. I’m sorry.”

Annabeth’s hand suddenly grasps her chin gently, and Piper tenses when she moves Piper’s face around to look at her. Her hand doesn’t leave Piper’s chin and Piper’s starting to have trouble breathing, she’s so _close_.

“You can tell me if something’s bothering you, Pipes,” Annabeth says softly, and Piper almost melts. “You can tell me anything. I’m here for you. Is it- is it Percy? Did you, like- Did you like him?”

Piper lets out laugh that sounds a little too abrupt. “ _No_ , definitely not.”

“Okay,” Annabeth says quietly. Piper is still insanely aware of her hand on Piper’s chin, and of how close she is to Annabeth’s face. “Is it about my relationship with Percy?”

Piper doesn’t say anything. Annabeth bites her lip and slowly lets go of her chin.

“Oh. What.. what about the relationship? What can I do to make things better?”

“Nothing. It’s fine, Annie. Like I said, I’ll be better about it. I just needed some time.”

“Okay. If you’re sure..” She turns back around and takes a seat on the stool slowly. Piper picks the straightener up again and continues her work.

Silence. Piper doesn’t like silence. But she also doesn’t like talking to Annabeth about why she’s been avoiding her.

“I thought you said you were happy for me,” Annabeth whispers quietly. Piper closes her eyes tightly and pauses her work again. “Why did you lie?”

 

 

 

 

“...It’s just better like this.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _It’s just better like this_.

 

The more she tries to convince herself of it, the more it feels like a lie.

 

 

 

The tension slowly starts to erase itself during the three hours of preparing Annabeth for her date, but not enough. They joke and laugh like they did before the whole Percy mess after awhile- but Piper catches Annabeth looking at her. Looking at her with such sad eyes.

She knows she’ll have to stop avoiding her.

  
  


That Monday, Piper gets to Econ on time and takes a seat next to Annabeth. When Annabeth looks up, she’s surprised, but she smiles brightly at Piper. Piper smiles brightly back and thinks maybe it’s not so bad. She might be hurting, but it’s worth it to see Annabeth smile so brightly.

  


**haze** 11:22 AM

i hear you’re not ignoring annie anymore

 

 **pipes** 11:23 AM

yeah

 

 **haze** 11:23 AM

so you’re coming to lunch then?

 

 **pipes** 11:26 AM

...yeah

  


Lunch hurts a little. But Annabeth and Percy aren’t as eccentric as they were before. Reyna, who’s also taken a little break, it seems, isn’t there. Piper doesn’t have anyone to meet eyes with, and she finds it a little… more upsetting than she should. But her friends keep her talking, and as lunch goes on she feels a little lighter. Annabeth smiles at her brightly and Percy seems happier to have her there, too. It’s nice.

 

But it’s not always nice.

 

The next day is better. Piper has classes with the two new lovebirds- ones that she’s been spending across the room, away from them- that she now spends with them. She no longer avoids Percy in History, even though Percy can be a bit talkative when he’s got something on his mind, like Annabeth, for instance. Piper swears every two seconds he’s talking about Annabeth, and as much as she wants to be over it, it still takes a negative toll on her. She doesn’t like talking about Annabeth with Percy. But Percy doesn’t seem to notice that, and Piper isn’t exactly ready to stand up and say no, so round and round in circles she goes.

A few days after Piper came back, Reyna joins them at the lunch table again, too. Piper didn’t realize how much she missed shared, pained glances across the table when Percy and Annabeth do something.

But Piper hasn’t really even acknowledged Reyna since French class, and hasn’t needed to. Their rivalry seems to be taking a break while they both deal with adjusting and sometimes, it feels like they’re bonding over shared pain. Piper will roll her eyes, and Reyna will smile a little, and it’s the nicest they’ve ever been towards each other.

Stupid. It’s so stupid that romance affects people like this. That liking someone can lead to the end of the world. But Piper’s not sure how to avoid it.

During week four since Percy and Annabeth announced their relationship, Piper finally snaps. Again.

She’s in French class, again, and she finally decides to change her route by following that one guy from her Trig class on his route and ends up getting there two minutes earlier than usual. She didn’t know the 300s hall had a shortcut through the courtyard. In fairness, she’s never had a class in the 300s hall anyways.

Reyna sits in the seat next to her- _she_ was the last one today, to Piper’s surprise, and they haven’t traded the usual snarky remarks that they used to. Piper’s eyes flicker to the left every so often as their French teacher is lecturing at the front of the room still- she’s trying to take notes, but failing, caught on movement all around her. Someone will cough, or jerk awake, or sweat when the teacher asks a question, and Piper’s attention will move to that instead. Because of it, she keeps missing a word or two there, because her mind is split in it’s thinking again, as it has been for the past few weeks. It grows to be annoying, even if it’s Piper who’s lagging behind.

To her left, Piper can hear and see Reyna’s hand dragging a pencil across paper in elegant strokes when she gives up on listening, taking notes and doodling in the side of her notebook at seemingly random intervals- which is something Piper never thought she’d see Reyna do. Reyna always seemed like the type to keep her notes clean and organized, not clustered with doodles like Piper is seeing.

When Piper shifts and looks a closer, her annoyance turns into frustration.

In the corner of Reyna’s notebook- doodled around large handwriting- is a picture of Annabeth’s name. Next to it- a heart that’s been crossed out.

For some reason, that rubs Piper the wrong way.

She wants things to go back to normal. Back to where it didn’t hurt to think about Annabeth, where she didn’t look at Reyna and know she’s feeling the same way. Things feel different. Piper remembers the way it felt when she came back to the lunch table- the way she felt every time Percy and Annabeth did something particularly couple-y. She remembers the way Hazel and the others wanted her to come _back_ and witness that- to hurt for the greater good of friendship. She thinks of the ways things have changed and she wonders if other people feel it, too, or if it’s just her and this stupid, stupid crush.

Piper takes another look at Reyna’s doodle and closes her eyes.

Just her, Reyna, and this stupid, stupid crush.

It starts as an idea. _How would they feel_ , Piper thinks to herself as she watches Reyna doodle secretly, _how would they feel if_ their _lives were turned around? If maybe- maybe- they could feel the same way Piper does. The same way_ Reyna _does_.

Piper’s never really given a lot of thought to how Reyna feels about things- they aren’t exactly _close_ and probably never will be- but suddenly, knowing her pain, Piper cares a great deal.

It hits her as her French teacher passes out papers.

Maybe it’s petty. But she’s angry right now.

She has to talk to Reyna.

  


Reyna surprises Piper. As though she knew what Piper was planning to do after class, Reyna shoves her stuff into her bag hurriedly as soon as the bell rings and practically runs out of the room. Baffled, Piper follows her hurriedly and manages to catch up with her in the hallway, despite the waves of students that come pouring out of their classrooms at that moment.

“Reyna!” Piper calls as Reyna makes her way towards what Piper _thinks_ is the gym- which is weird, because Piper is sure they don’t have practice that day. “Hey, Reyna!”

Piper grabs Reyna’s arm, and that’s when Reyna finally looks toward her, blinking in confusion.

Of course, it’s the perfect time to get cold feet.

“Yes?” Reyna raises an eyebrow and Piper’s heart jerks nervously. Shit.

“I, uh-” she starts stupidly, smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles in her t-shirt. Someone bumps into her and apologizes quickly, but she’s not sure how to respond. She’s too busy trying to focus on _Reyna_ , who keeps looking behind her as if contemplating how long it would take her to vanish in the crowd. “I wanted to know, if, like-”

“Not to be rude, but I have places to be,” Reyna snaps. Piper  She turns back towards her destination, but Piper grabs her wrist again. Reyna’s wrists are decorated with small, leather bracelets and beads that Piper’s never noticed before, and before she can focus too much on it, Reyna yanks her wrist back.

“Wait! Sorry, I just- I just wanted to know how you’re feeling about the Annabeth,” Piper cringes, “thing?”

Reyna’s brown eyes narrow and her mouth twitches in annoyance. “If you want to suddenly start _caring_ after all of that weird competition between us or whatever it is, you can shove it up-”

“I’m not asking because I want to suddenly start caring!” Piper exclaims, even though she kind of is. Reyna doesn’t need to know that, though. “I’m just asking how you feel about it, because I might have, like- you know- a way to turn things around.”

“‘Turn things around’?”

The hallway is slowly clearing the longer they stay behind.

Piper nods. “Yeah.”

“What, like sabotage?” With a huff, Reyna waves her off, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders. “No, thanks. I’d rather move on.”

Piper has to admit- it does sound bad when she says it like that, outloud. It sounds _really_ bad. Reyna’s about to leave again. _God_ , when did talking to someone become so hard? Talking to anyone else had never been so difficult. Maybe it was just talking to Reyna that was so hard.

She knows her opportunity is slowly slipping away as Reyna continues down the hall, pushing past lingering students that drift to their afternoon activities. Without thinking, she blurts out, “I mean like fake dating.”

It’s enough that Reyna stops in her tracks. Piper gets closer to her, not wanting to yell down the hall, and speaks as fast as she can before Reyna decides it’s not worth it again. “I don’t really.. want to give up on Annabeth. And I know you don’t either.”

Reyna doesn’t face her. She doesn’t move, or acknowledge that she heard Piper at all for a long, long moment. Then she lets out a long and pained sigh, like a dam of irritation is being released from her body.

“Alright,” Reyna gives in, at last. Piper’s heart jumps, and, with her hands on her hips, Reyna turns and gives her a look. It’s her captain look- the one that means _obey, and we will have victory_ . The one that says _mess up, and I will skin you alive_. It makes Piper want to shiver with the intensity. “Alright. So say I go along with this. What’s your plan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how are we feeling after this chapter? sorry for the rush of emotions, might be a bit fast but. what can i say, i'm eager to get to my favorite parts lol
> 
> comment and let me know how you feel about this chapter! if you want to yell about pipeyna with me, hmu on @alluredbyyou on tumblr. i also have a femslash pjo server if you'd like to join, so you can yell about your favorite ships (all f/f ships welcome!)
> 
> thank you for reading :))) next chapter should be up in the next week or so.


	3. gravel to tempo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyna agrees, they hang out with friends, and talk details.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y ' a l l it's been a bit lmfao how r u i hope ur doing well, here's chap 3
> 
> also chapter 2 did some weird thing? where the publication date was at a diff date? so idk if that messed up the email notif but i'm making sure it's ok now!

**003. _gravel to tempo_.**

 

They run drills for the majority of practice. By the time they’re half-way done, Piper’s legs ache from the running and her head swims from the constant movement. It’s a rough two hours, but every time she takes a look at Reyna, Reyna doesn’t seem to be affected at all. She looks regal and completely in her element the longer practice goes one, irritatingly enough.

She also looks to be deep in thought. Piper has the distinct feeling she knows exactly what it is.

After Piper stopped her in the hallway, she divulged to Reyna more about what she had been thinking. About what everything would entail. It had felt weird to say out loud- to voice out an idea only discussed in her head- but thankfully, Reyna caught on quickly and either kept her judgements to herself, or she didn’t have a problem with it. Piper was thinking it was the former.

 _I need to think about this,_ Reyna had said with a shake of her head, hair escaping her braid like a fraying rope. _And we need to go to practice_.

Then she had stalked down the hall and she hasn’t said a word about it since. Piper wonders if she’ll even agree at all.

“Alright, girls,” Coach Artei finally says, and everyone around Piper sighs in relief. Lacy in particular, who has been struggling to stay in form all practice, looks like she’s about to cry in relief. “Finish up with some stretches and you’re good for today. Drink lots of water and relax those muscles- we’ll need them for next practice next Tuesday. Dismissed.”

Piper lets out a groan and releases her leg, flopping down on the ground with a tired _thump_. Her heart is still pounding from laps, her calves feel weird from all the stretching, and her face is covered in sweat. Piper closes her eyes and wonders if she could just lay there forever.

Something nudges her side carefully. Piper ignores it until she’s poked _hard_ on her stomach and she lets out a pained yelp, rolling away and covering her stomach with her arms.

“Fuck, don’t do that!”

When Piper looks up with a glare, expecting to be met with Lacy’s or even Drew’s eyes, but she meets the eyes of neither. Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano stares down at her with an eyebrow raised, looking generally amused and unimpressed.

“Oh, it’s you,” Piper says lamely. Reyna blinks and makes a face.

“Yeah,” she agrees as Piper forces herself to get up. Her eyes follow Piper’s movements all the while. “It’s me. Look, we need to talk-”

“Reyna! Piper!”

Piper looks over her shoulder and spots the two people she _really_ does not want to see at the moment running across the field. Reyna closes her eyes tightly and lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Reynaa! Piperr!”

“Later,” Piper tells Reyna, as their friends get closer. She turns back to her with a serious expression. “We’ll talk later.”

Reyna nods just as arms wrap around Piper’s neck and a weight drops on her back, making her stumble sideways and grunt from the force. Blonde curls tickle her cheek and Piper’s heart races fast- her face is warm, and she’s sure it’s _not_ just from practice.

“Hey guys,” Percy says cheerily beside Piper. The arms retract from around Piper’s neck and Piper feels like she’s lost something. But Annabeth’s dazzling smile when she comes into view quickly drowns that feeling. “What are _y’all_ talking about?”

“Stop,” Annabeth says immediately, grinning widely. “Don’t use y’all, that’s terrible.”

“Excuse me, but y’all is a perfectly acceptable word, Wise Girl.”

Annabeth laughs- head thrown back and blonde curls everywhere- and Piper’s heart pangs. Percy pokes her shoulder and she glares at him, and Piper feels like she’s no longer a part of this conversation as they begin to discuss the validity of the word ‘y’all’ and how Percy can _totally_ use that word if he wants. Piper looks to Reyna and Reyna looks to her, and an understanding passes between them.

That’s when Hazel- Piper’s saviour and bestest friend in the entire fucking world- clears her throat and raises an eyebrow, having just reached the four of them. Annabeth and Percy still continue argue.

“Have they invited you yet?” Hazel asks, and Piper raises an eyebrow.

“Invited us where?” Piper asks, just as Reyna replies with, “They haven’t asked us anything yet.”

“We’re going to that Cook Out place just down the road,” Hazel explains as Annabeth suddenly shakes her head suddenly, still arguing with Percy. The topic has switched from whether y’all is really a good word to something else entirely. It’s like they’re in their own little world. “Want to come with?”

That might be fun, is Piper’s first thought. But then Piper’s gaze slides over to where Percy is now laughing loudly- to where Annabeth is rolling her eyes with a small, unimpressed smile- and she decides maybe it won’t be. Not if she has to watch Annabeth smile so happily- so in love- at Percy as if he hung the moon for her. Not if she has to watch Percy look at Annabeth as if she’s the stars in the sky. Her face must fall, because Hazel bites her lip in concern and assures her, “Frank and Leo will be there. Jason, too. It won’t just be us and those two.”

That makes Piper feel a bit better about it- but not enough to go. She’s just about to thank Hazel for the invitation and give her an excuse, when Reyna takes a step closer to Piper and says, “Sure, we’ll go.”

“We will?” asks Piper, astounded.

“We?” asks Hazel, an eyebrow raised.

Reyna nudges Piper with a her shoulder- a move so unexpected and friendly that Piper almost jolts away. She sends a startled look to Reyna, but Reyna stares her down.

“Sorry, but I have homework to do,” Piper starts, but Reyna jabs her and _fuck,_ that jab _hurt._

“She means she’ll do her homework _after_ this,” Reyna assures Hazel, and Piper is still trying to catch her breath again. She breathes in and coughs roughly. _God_ , did Reyna have to hit so hard? “Right, Piper?”

“Sure,” Piper wheezes out. Hazel looks concerned. Annabeth and Percy are finally looking up from their conversation.

“We’ll join you after changing,” Reyna tells the three of them. “Practice was intense today, so you probably don’t want us in our uniforms and all of that.”

It’s then that Reyna goes the extra step and slips her arm through Piper’s arm. Piper doesn’t remember _ever_ being this chummy with Reyna, and she’s not sure she likes it either. Reyna waves at Hazel, and Piper’s finally catching her breath.

“What the fuck was that?” Piper asks as soon as they’re in the girls’ locker room. “You jabbed me in the chest!”

“I was getting you to shut up,” Reyna states obviously. She’s already slipping her arm out from Piper’s and unlocking her locker. “Besides, we need to talk before we go out to Cook Out-”

“About what?”

“Your plan. You still want to go through with it?”

Piper’s interest piques. She unlocks her own locker and pulls out her clothes from before. “I mean, yeah. We should discuss it in further detail when we’re not, you know, rushing to get dressed-”

“Obviously.” Reyna takes off her shirt and Piper blinks. Reyna’s already putting on her other one before Piper actually turns away. “I just thought you should know that I’m in.”

Piper’s shirt nearly slips out of her hands. “Really? I mean- yeah, okay. Cool. Sure. Sounds good to me..”

Reyna snorts as if Piper’s reaction amuses her and reaches for her jeans. Piper respectively turns away then, slipping out of her uniform and into her t-shirt.

“So about the details-” Piper begins.

“Later,” Reyna warns. “We’ll talk about them later.”

They continue to dress in silence and, when they’re finished, they hurry out of the locker room to where the others are waiting.

  


“God, I really want a milkshake right now,” Piper groans as the CookOut line inches further and comes to a stop again. Hazel lets out a laugh- with her head tipped back and everything- and Piper slings an arm around her casually. Hazel’s the perfect height, Piper muses after a second, and then takes that arm and rests it on Hazel’s head. Hazel lets out an offended _guffaw_ and shakes her head so Piper’s arm slides right off. Piper grins widely.

“Yeah, you’ve said so like six million times,” Hazel exaggerates (probably not by much, though). She messes with her hair to get it back to how she likes it. “And stop using me as an armrest already- I get I’m short, but you keep messing up my hair.”

Piper shrugs innocently, but the grin is still wide on her face. “It’s fun.”

Hazel snorts and rolls her eyes, and Piper reminds herself that Hazel is the best being on the planet. If only she were into girls, Piper finds herself musing, and didn’t have that thing for Frank Zhang. But she isn’t into girls- that Piper knows of- and she does have a thing for Frank, so Piper lets that musing drift. Shame.

A loud laugh echoes over the chattering of other customers- most likely from their friend group- and it makes Piper roll her eyes.

The line inches forward just a smidge again, bringing them closer and closer to the front, and Piper lets out another groan. They’ll be forty before they’ll finally be able to get their milkshakes at this rate, she thinks bitterly.

Hazel nudges her with her arm gently.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Hazel asks with a curious, innocent tone. When Piper lets out an affirmative hum, she lays it on. “What’s going on between you and Reyna? You seemed pretty… close earlier. Or at least, you weren’t being _that_ hostile towards  each other.”

Piper, of course, hears alarm bells going off in her head.

“What? Nothing’s going on, we’re just… friendlier, I guess,” Piper dismisses. “And not hostile? Did you see that jab she gave me? I’d say that was pretty fuckin’ hostile, Haze.”

“It looked more like a playful jab to me,” Hazel points out. She shrugs. “You did let her link her arm through yours, which was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Piper snorts. “Tell me about it. But no, there’s nothing that’s _going on_ , Haze.”

“Alright.”

The line takes a leap forward, finally, when a group of annoyed customers decide the wait isn’t worth it. As soon as they step out of line, Piper takes their spot and lets out a triumphant _yes_. They get up to the front of the line, finally, five minutes later. Hazel doesn’t mention Reyna again, even when the topic of their conversation touches over how practice went.

By the time they’ve gotten back to the others, their table is easily the loudest one there. Leo Valdez is somehow simultaneously the loudest person talking _and_ laughing at his own story, Percy is slamming his hand down on the table repeatedly like he’s choking on something, and Jason is watching Percy in concern, a hand out to help him if needed and an amused smile on his face. When they arrive, arms full of requested drinks, Frank- a new addition to their group and a sweetie- gets up from his spot next to Leo in the booth awkwardly and gets up for Hazel, who smiles at him brightly.

That leaves Piper to sit on the other side, where Annabeth and Reyna are chatting quietly next to Percy, who’s still choking on his own laughter. Great, Piper thinks. Just great.

“So how was practice?” Annabeth asks as Piper sits down, taking her Oreo milkshake from Piper with a soft ‘thanks’ that makes Piper’s heart pound faster. Annabeth leans against Percy right after, changing the nervous, fast paced beating to a painful twist. “Did Coach Artei wear you guys out again?”

Reyna, thankfully, speaks up for the both of them with a laugh. “Of course. She’s hoping to with the _whole season_ , no exceptions. Piper practically passed out when Coach finally called practice to an end.”

“Hey!” Piper protests, and Reyna lets out a laugh that almost startles Piper out of the booth seat. It’s a weird moment. Usually they’re at each other’s throats or ignoring the hell out of each other- but these past few weeks have been different. Almost like they… get along.

“I mean, you did,” Reyna points out. “You had your eyes closed and shrieked when I nudged your side.”

Piper glares, but it’s playful. “That’s because I wanted to catch my breath, and you didn’t _nudge_ me, you poked my side really painfully with your foot!” Piper turns her gaze to Annabeth and the rest of the group. “But yeah, I think Coach _really_ wants to run us into the ground at this point. My calves are _still_ burning.”

Annabeth laughs and Piper’s heart soars for a split second, before Piper is reminded that Annabeth has a boyfriend. A boyfriend who’s sitting right beside her, with his arm now wrapped around her shoulders.

“It wasn’t _that_ bad,” Reyna says, trying to engage her. Piper’s thankful.

“It _was_! She had us running laps until Lacy almost collapsed!”

“To be honest, Piper,” Leo joins in jokingly, “it sounds like you’re just weak.”

“Asshole, I could chuck you out of this window, no sweat.”

“ _Do_ it.”

Jason holds his hands up fast when Piper _actually_ starts to stand up, eyes wide and concerned. “Maybe that’s not such a good idea, Piper.”

Piper glares at Leo as he laughs, head thrown back and cackling like the evil asshole he is. She sits back down, anyway. “He asked for it. I’m just trying to deliver.”

Leo just laughs harder. Hazel has her eyes closed, like she’s already done with their bullshit, Frank- the poor guy- looks shaken and concerned, and Jason is watching Piper as if to make sure she’s _really_ sitting back down, and not planning to jump back up to chuck Leo out the window or, potentially, strangle him. Piper can’t exactly say she wasn’t thinking about it.

When Piper looks over to make a joke to Annabeth, she catches sight of Annabeth’s hand. It’s entwined with Percy’s.

The intensity of her desire to be the one holding Annabeth’s hand hits her hard. Piper doesn’t really feel like joking anymore, but she forces it anyway. The smile feels stretched. She looks away from Annabeth and Percy, who are off in their own little world again, and catches sight of Reyna deliberately looking away from the two lovebirds, jaw set and eyes hard. Leo is yapping away- telling them some story from his Mechanics class- but it’s just background noise. All Piper can think about is the way Annabeth was looking at Percy.

Jesus fuck, she’s a mess.

Fingers, long and elegant, slip into Piper’s own when she’s not paying attention.

“We have an announcement to make,” Piper hears Reyna announce to the table, interrupting whatever crazy story Leo is spouting, before she can process exactly _who’s_ hand is in hers. When Piper looks up in question- wondering who _we_ is and not quite connecting the dots- soft lips meet hers and Piper nearly shrieks.

It’s a quick kiss- one that could be considered an accident, really. When Piper inhales, she smells cinnamon and it makes her head spin. When the lips pull back, she’s dazed with the smell. Intoxicated. She blinks rapidly, only to be met with the cold, assessing eyes of Reyna.

There’s noise around her in response, but Piper can only focus on Reyna’s cold gaze that holds hers in a death grip. There’s a smile on Reyna’s face- for show, of course, after what she just did- but her eyes watch Piper’s every movement. With a jolt, Piper realizes Reyna’s looking for signs of whether or not she was _okay_ with it.

The realization sets Piper’s insides on fire. There’s something familiar about Reyna’s gaze, something she just can’t quite put a finger on, but it sets Piper’s veins on _fire_.

Piper wants to say she’s not okay with it. To frown at Reyna and get out of the booth, because Piper does _not_ have feelings for Reyna. But when she looks up, she notices Annabeth.

Annabeth, who is watching them with the same serious, assessing eyes, watching as if to see if this is _real_ , if they really are together. Piper’s heart jolts and she manages a small smile that she hopes looks convincing.

“So _that’s_ why you’re all friendly with Reyna now,” Hazel’s voice cuts through Piper’s train of thought. “You lied to me! You said nothing was going on!”

Piper turns, coming up with an explanation as fast as she could, fearing Hazel was _actually_ upset, but Hazel’s face is lit up with a bright smile with a teasing glint in her eyes.

“Didn’t know what to tell you. I didn’t even know we were going to _say anything_ yet,” Piper offers lamely, the latter part aimed towards the asshole sitting next to her. Reyna’s fingers- still linked with hers- tighten their grip in warning. “Sorry, Haze.”

Hazel waves her hand, and grins widely. “It’s fine! I think this deserves some celebration!”

Annabeth is still watching them with careful eyes. Piper can feel it.

Percy, who hasn’t said much of anything, raises his shake in the air like a champagne glass. He lowers his voice to make it sound fancier. “A toast! To the new lovebirds!”

Everyone raises their shakes and Piper feels very, very small. If this had been real, she would have been having fun, joining in on the dramatics and laughing, like Reyna was. Now, she just wishes they would all drop it. Maybe this fake dating idea was a bad idea.

Annabeth doesn’t raise her shake. She’s still watching them.

Piper squeezes Reyna’s fingers in warning. “We need to talk details,” she mutters under her breath, still keeping up her fake smile as everyone goes back to joking around, laughing their asses off and being goofs.

Reyna squeezes Piper’s fingers back in confirmation.

Annabeth is still watching them.

 

  
  
“Hey, Rey, Pipes, I’ll give you a ride,” Jason says as the group collects all of their trash. Leo and Hazel are arguing about something with an amused Frank hovering by ahead of them. Annabeth and Percy stand a few feet away from them, still immersed in each other and _only_ each other. At least Piper thinks so, at first. She sends Piper and Reyna glances every once and awhile, and then to their hands that are still entwined together. Reyna hasn’t let go. Piper doesn’t know if it’ll look suspicious if she drops her hand.

So they keep holding on.

Reyna smiles at Jason warmly and squeezes Piper’s hand again. Piper’s not exactly sure what it means. “Sure. Thanks, Jase.”

Jason grins and his eyes dart down to their hands. “No problem. I’ve gotta say, I _never_ expected you two to get together, but… I can’t say it’s a bad thing either. Congrats.”

“Thank you,” Reyna says and nudges Piper. Piper’s still caught up on ‘ _never expected you two to get together_ ’, but she forces a smile.

“Yeah, thanks,” says Piper. “Means a lot.”

“Hey, you guys coming or what?” asks Leo. He lifts an eyebrow at them from where he’s standing at the door- hand already preparing to push it open. The rest of their group awaits, blocking the rest of the restaurant from getting out as well. “We can’t _all_ just stand around aimlessly- we’ve got things to do! Let’s go!”

Jason sighs and shakes his head. “Coming. Why are you waiting for us anyway? Just get going, we’re all riding together anyway.”

“If you say so.”

“Leo- ah crap,” Hazel protests as Leo pushes through the door. He lets out a whoop in the parking lot and climbs into the back of what Piper assumes to be Frank’s truck. “I’ll see you guys later. Let’s go, Frank.”

Annabeth and Percy are still talking together- Annabeth has her arm around Percy, looking smug and content with herself, and Percy looks playfully defeated as if they fought for these positions, and Percy lost. The looks he sends Annabeth while she isn’t looking conveys a totally different story.

“Hey, Percy, Annabeth,” Jason calls and leaves Piper and Reyna’s side for the moment. The two called look over, and it’s so cute and innocent that Piper’s heart repeats its twisting and panging from earlier. It hurts. It really, really does. They look like they _fit_ , like pieces in a puzzle.

Piper pulls Reyna a step closer and leans a little further, to where she can rest her forehead on Reyna’s shoulder. Reyna, though she tenses in the beginning, takes it rather well. Piper applauds her in the depths of her mind. For her part, Reyna slips her hand from hers, then wraps her arms around Piper and pulls her even _closer_. Piper’s heart beats a little faster, and she fights down the urge to take a step back. To move away. To take it all back and say ‘just kidding! We’re faking it!’

 _Nothing weird about this_ , Piper tries to convince herself, up close and personal with Reyna’s cinnamon smell. _Just two girls, doing totally girly things._

Jason and Annabeth exchange a few words, but Piper can’t focus on them. The longer she stays there, pressed so close to Reyna, the more the cinnamon smell starts to smell less like cinnamon and more like… something else. Piper isn’t sure. Her head is starting to hurt.

“Alright, love birds, come on,” Piper can hear Jason say teasingly. Reyna pulls back immediately, and Piper follows in suit, finally feeling like she can _breathe_ again, even if the fresh air stings at first. Reyna’s hand somehow finds hers again, and Jason leads them out to the parking lot. “I’ll get you home, I just ask one thing- no making out in my backseat, okay? I don’t want to get in my car everyday and have to remember that.”

The idea is so ridiculous that Piper actually bursts into laughter.

 

  
  
“Thanks for the ride, again, Jase,” Reyna says as they get out of the car. Jason smiles at them, flashing them a peace sign. Piper wants to slap it away.

“No problem,” says Jason. “I’ll text you guys later.”

Reyna turns back towards the house, already making her way towards the front porch. Jason gives Piper a wink and a not-at-all-subtle head jerk towards Reyna, and Piper _knows_ he’s just asking for it. She steps forward as if she’s going to jump him- jokingly, of course- and Jason laughs.

Then he puts the car in reverse and leaves Piper standing in the middle of her own driveway.

“Piper?” calls Reyna. “Are we going in?”

Reyna is standing on the porch when Piper turns, hands in her pockets as if she’s not sure what to do with them and shoulders tense. She looks uncomfortable to be standing there, alone, on Piper’s porch. It almost fills Piper with a sense of smugness.

 _Finally,_ thinks Piper. _Something that makes you nervous_.

It’s kind of a shame that it makes Piper nervous, too.

“Coming.”

The key turns in the lock smoothly when Piper attempts to open the front door. She twists the doorknob, but it’s stuck. It won’t turn.

It occurs to Piper that instead of unlocking the door, she’s locked it instead. And if she’s locked it, that means it was unlocked to begin with. And if it’s locked, then there’s someone home already, and Piper only lives with one other person.

“Shit,” whispers Piper.

“Something wrong?”

“Just-”

The front lock clicks, and there’s rustling on the other side of the door. Reyna’s eyebrows raise in alarm, and whatever prayers and hopes Piper had that they’d be left alone turn right around and march out. When the door opens, Reyna’s taking a step back and Piper knows her face betrays the defeat she’s feeling.

“Hey, Piper,” says Tristan McLean as he opens the front door, raising an eyebrow at Piper as if she’s sick or something. “You do know that usually, to get inside of a house, you _unlock_ the door, not lock it.”

“Oh, I know, Dad,” grumbles Piper. “I just didn’t realize you were home. Don’t you usually come home later?”

Piper’s dad shrugs. “Got off early. Figured we could spend some time...”

His eyes land on Reyna, who seems to be slowly inching away from the both of them the longer the conversation goes on.

“...together. My bad, I didn’t realize you were having company over. Mind introducing us, Piper?”

The look her dad gives her- a mix of excitement that she’s brought home a friend and a bit of what Piper likes to call the Parental Encouragement look. With a sigh, she gestures towards Reyna and imagines that she’s upstairs in her room, where she finally can get shit done and just _sleep._

“Dad, this is Reyna, my… girlfriend,” Piper says. Dad’s eyes widen. “Reyna, this is my dad, Tristan McLean.”

“Girlfriend, huh?” Her dad starts to pry, but Piper doesn’t let him, already pushing through the doorway and into the house.

“Yeah,” says Piper. “Girlfriend. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to be in my room, so it’d be great if you didn’t disturb us or anything. Reyna’s just going to be here for a little bit and then I’m going to drive her home, alright? Then we can hang out.”

“Sure, I guess,” Tristan calls after her. Then, to Reyna, who Piper guesses isn’t following her anymore, “Nice to meet you, Reyna.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Mr. McLean.”

“Reyna, come on.”

Reyna mumbles something, but follows after Piper willingly to her room. As soon as they’re upstairs and away from her dad, Piper lets out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. Reyna raises an eyebrow at her.

“Girlfriend, huh? We’re holding this facade up for everyone?”

“Last minute panic, sorry,” Piper waves her off. She flops on her bed, laying on her back with her legs just.. everywhere, and lets out a long, long sigh. “Alright. Down to business, I guess.”

“Guess so.” Reyna takes a look around Piper’s room, studying all of her pictures with friends, her posters of different bands and things, her wall mural. She takes a seat at Piper’s desk in her swivel chair by straddling it, basically, and supports her head with her elbows.

“So what are you comfortable with?”


	4. feeding the fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the fake dating commence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wish pipeyna was more popular wtf

**004. _feeding the fire_.**

 

If Piper had known that having this discussion would be so awkward, she would have put it off as long as possible. Avoided it at every turn she could, until it _had_ to be discussed. But they’re here now, already having begun the conversation, so she can’t just _avoid_ it.

Piper knows her face is red. _God_ , it’s so red- she can feel her cheeks burning and she thanks whatever god is out there that she’s not a body blusher, because she knows her neck, clearly visible, would be just as red. Reyna looks at her in question, perfect eyebrow raised as if trying to ask her what’s wrong without actually doing it. _Jesus_ , Piper, get a _grip_.

“I, uh,” begins Piper lamely.

This is for _fake_ dating. How would this be if they were _really_ dating?

Piper realizes she doesn’t really want to think about that.

“Do you want me to go first?” asks Reyna. Piper can’t breathe- it really shouldn’t be this _hard_ , but talking about what she’s okay to do with _Reyna_ of all people is too much, apparently.

Piper nods and curses herself for being a coward.

“Alright, well, I guess hand holding and.. kissing is okay for the both of us.”

Piper feels like shrieking. She doesn’t get how Reyna can sound so casually about all of this- they’re practically _rivals_ . It’s been different, sure, since Annabeth and Percy got together, but you can’t change something that’s been happening for _years_ so quickly.

Can you?

“Guess so.”

“Great, that’s out of the way,” Reyna checks off, as if she’s got a list in her head. “Cuddling or just generally being really close?”

“I- I’d really rather to do that as little as possible,” Piper says, and winces. “Sorry, no offense to you-”

“Nothing wrong with that, Piper.” Reyna continues to list things off, and it really does feel like list. It somehow makes things easier for them both. “How about pet names?”

The thought of hearing Reyna call her _sweetie pie_ or _babe_ makes  her feel weird. She’s not sure if it’s a good or a bad weird, but she’s guessing the latter. “Oh god, only if we have to.”

“Fair.” Check. “Just general affectionate things?”

“Like what?”

“Kisses on the cheek, putting our arms around each other, et cetera.”

“...I can live with that.”

“Great.” Reyna takes a moment to think. “How… how long should we keep this up?”

To that question, Piper realizes, she does not have an answer to. How long _would_ they keep this up? Until Annabeth and Percy broke up, if they ever did? What would they do if Annabeth and Percy never _did_ break up? Where would they draw the line?

Piper’s head starts to hurt the more she thinks about it.

“I mean- I don’t know,” Piper says honestly. “The obvious thing is if it were to _work,_ and Annabeth and Percy break up. Then, I think, we’d 'break' up. But if they don’t? Or if they do, but it’s not because of us? I don’t know. That- that may be something we have to play by ear.”

Reyna is quiet for a long, long moment.

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” she says finally. “I think we covered it all.”

“Really?”

“Yeah- unless you had things you wanted to clarify?”

The kiss comes to mind almost immediately. It wasn’t a _bad_ kiss, Piper supposes- Reyna smells _very_ strongly of cinnamon, and it’s incredibly intoxicating- but it was… sudden. Out of nowhere.

Piper shifts on the bed, and then sits up. She crisscrosses her legs in front of her and decides if she’s going to say something, it might as well be now. “Yeah. I- I wanted to talk about the kiss from earlier.”

Reyna smiles, but it seems kind of strained. “Am I a bad kisser or something?”

“Uh, no, not- not really.” Piper’s blush is back and at full power. “I just- can you give me more of a warning next time? Like, maybe we should have a signal if we’re going to do something out of the blue, you know?”

“Sure, if that makes you more comfortable. What about a double tap on the shoulder?”

Reyna, Piper finds out, is very easy going. Very efficient. The longer they talk, the faster Piper finds herself relaxing. Her heart isn’t racing anymore. Her hands aren’t sweaty- thank god for that.

“Alright.”

  


Piper drives Reyna home in her dad’s old jeep twenty minutes later. The ride is tense and quiet without Jason in the car there with them. It should be awkward. It kind of is.

But it’s kind of not.

There’s something about Reyna that doesn’t make it awkward. She has this air about her that’s just _authoritative_ \- if she wants it to be silent, then so be it. If Reyna wants it to be lively, she’ll make it lively. It’s easier to sit in silence knowing that Reyna isn’t trying to break it.

Still is tense, though. Piper’s still not sure how to _be_ around her.

Do they still compete with each other? Do they chill out? Are they friendly now? God- are they _friends_ now?!

Piper wishes there was a fake dating manual- How To Fake Date Your Rival And Still Know What You’re Doing With Your Life. It would be so much help. Piper wouldn’t be stumbling around like she’s blindfolded around a bunch of walls. Maybe she’s blindfolded and trapped in a box- with no way of getting out.

_Is that what she’s done?_

_Has she just made things worse for herself?_

_Is this even a good idea?_

Reyna’s apartment is approximately seventeen minutes and thirty seconds away from Piper’s house, Piper learns. She definitely was _not_ counting the time to keep herself distracted from thinking about Reyna and how she stares out the window as if she’s hesitant to go home. Or about how regal she looks, even just sitting in Piper’s passenger seat, doing nothing but bopping her head to the music that’s on the radio.

Even if she was, Reyna is incredibly distracting. It’s only obvious for Piper to want to keep herself on track.

When Piper pulls up to Reyna’s apartment building, Reyna grabs her bag and sends a small smile Piper’s way.

“Thanks for the ride back,” says Reyna. “Today was pretty interesting, huh?”

Piper doesn’t have the time to respond. The next second, Reyna’s out of the passenger seat and closing the door. Piper watches, gobsmacked, as Reyna enters her apartment building. It’s a shitty, run-down sort of building that Piper’s dad would tell her to be wary of, but Reyna walks in like a fucking champ. Like she owns the goddamn place.

Piper doesn’t know how to feel about it.

She doesn’t know how to feel about Reyna.

She doesn’t know how to feel about Reyna having been in her house, or having talked and laughed with her. She doesn’t know how to feel about the fact she knows what Reyna’s hair smell like, or how her skin feels against hers. She doesn’t know how to feel about having _kissed_ Reyna either. Things are happening too fast. It’s been a day.

It’s hard to think that it’s only been a day.

Her lips tingle, but it’s weird, so Piper ignores it. She tries not to think about Reyna, or the fact that they’re fake dating. She tries not to think about Reyna’s skin, or Reyna’s cinnamon smell. She tries not to think about kissing Reyna.

If she didn’t know any better, she’d think she had a crush. But when Piper thinks about Reyna, there’s no flutter. There’s no queasiness and nerves or the want to kiss her again. It’s just weird. Thinking about Reyna is weird.

Piper doesn’t like it. As soon as she pulls out of the apartment buildings parking lot, she blares the radio, rolls the windows down, and decides to ignore her emotions for awhile.

  


School is weird.

Everything is weird now.

Piper didn’t realize that dating could be so _draining_ in highschool. Everyone expects you to sit next to each other at every possible second. If you don’t, you get questions like:

“Are you guys alright?”

“You two didn’t fight, did you?”

It’s draining. Incredibly so. At first, it’s just in their friend group at lunches or the occasional classes that they share with them. Somehow- Piper’s pretty sure Leo is behind it- it gets out to more and more people.

Suddenly, a small lie to make a pretty girl jealous turns into a major one. It gets to the lacrosse team, somehow. Coach Artei pulls them both aside and makes sure that their relationship isn’t going to affect the team in anyway.

“We’ve got a great chance at winning this year, girls,” she tells them seriously. “While I’m happy that you two have decided to get over whatever differences you may have had, I need to know that you both are still a hundred percent on board, no matter what happens in your personal lives.”

“You won’t have to worry about that,” Piper is the first to assure her. “Reyna and I are still committed to lacrosse. We won’t let it affect the team.”

Coach Artei looks relieved. She lets them get back to drills, and Piper feels like a liar. A big, fat liar.

“I didn’t think about the whole school finding out,” Piper says quietly as they rejoin the other girls. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

Reyna shrugs. “I guess so. I didn’t really think it would be.”

“But we’re still going through with this?”

Reyna bites her lip and pauses. Her steps come to a halt, and Piper matches her, stopping just in front of her. The rest of the team is still doing drills- out of earshot. For now. “We kind of have to, don’t we? Now that we’ve started?”

Piper shrugs. She guesses so. They return to practice with the other girls, but Piper is still caught up on how this will play out in the end.

 

It’s weird to be close to Reyna. A lot of the time, it doesn’t feel like they’re fake dating. It feels like they’re slowly, but surely, on their way to being friends. They laugh, they smile, and they joke like friends do and they don’t have to do _much_ to convince people they’re dating, apparently. It’s a shock, sometimes, when Reyna slips her hand into Piper’s, but it’s also… not. It feels strange, at first, but after awhile it feels like it’s natural. Like it’s _supposed_ to be this way. Like Reyna’s hand and hers are pieces of a puzzle that have finally found their way back to each other.

It doesn’t make any sense, so Piper stops thinking about it after awhile.

 

Sometimes, Piper’s dad asks about Reyna. He asks if Piper likes her a lot. And Piper doesn’t know what else to tell him other than ‘yeah, she’s my girlfriend’.

It never seems to be the answer he’s looking for.

 

The more people who know, the more stressed Piper feels. Piper isn’t _popular_ per se- she’s not the type people gossip about at all times, or like a highschool celebrity or anything. But people- people really like gossip. They know her from being on the school’s winning lacrosse team, and it makes the news of her and Reyna’s ‘dating’ spread like wildfire. People come up to her during class and ask if it’s true- if Reyna and Piper really _are_ dating. When Piper tells them ‘ _yes, we are_ ’, most are supporting. They congratulate her.

Some are assholes. Some crinkle their noses in disgust and walk away. Just like that.

The publicity- Piper can even call it that- is getting to her.

It looks like it’s getting to Reyna, too.

Days after they announced it to their friends, they get into a fight.

Perhaps Piper shouldn’t call it a fight- it’s more of an argument, really. Reyna’s upset about Piper doing something stupid. Piper doesn’t really feel like stepping down and apologizing- just.. _taking_ it. She fights back and they argue after practice, in the locker room, after everyone else has gone home.

It’s intense. Piper’s sure they pull on a few strings, push buttons a little too far. It’s enough to remind Piper that they are _rivals_. Not friends.

And then Lacy comes in, and it all turns to shit.

They got too close together. Lacy had come in because she had forgotten her uniform, and when she did, all she saw was Piper’s back, and Reyna’s arm, and they were a _little too close together_.

They apologize to Lacy for ‘making out’ in the locker room. They don’t correct her.

It’s probably best she doesn’t know that they secretly hate each other’s guts.

Piper doesn’t hate Reyna. She doesn’t. Reyna is more than a challenge now. She’s more than just a rival to beat at every turn. She’s more than just the other girl after Annabeth.

Piper doesn’t hate Reyna. But she’s not sure she likes her either.

  


They get over the fight pretty quickly- it was stupid. It was unnecessary. Piper’s just glad it didn’t affect anything- if anyone had suspected anything, things might have gone downhill, and fast.

  


No one seems suspicious. No one seems to think they’re lying.

No one except the person they’re trying to fool.

Annabeth is the only one to ask them questions they don’t know the answer to.

  


It starts in Econ- the questions. Annabeth’s quieter than she normally is. She pays attention to whatever Mr. D is saying, and doesn’t whisper to Piper like she normally does. In fact, Annabeth doesn’t say anything until after they’ve begun to work on an assignment for the last ten minutes in class.

And when she does say something, it’s soft. Piper doesn’t hear her at first- too engrossed in getting the assignment _done_ and _over with_ so she can goof off and not have to worry about it for homework. She doesn’t hear Annabeth whispering until a hand touches her arm gently, and she jumps.

“ _Hey_ ,” Annabeth says quietly. People around them are already finishing up the assignment- it’s easy, really- and the volume picks up a little. Mr. D doesn’t really look like he cares, which is a relief. “Can I ask you something?”

Piper can’t help it. Her heart picks up with that- and possibilities run through her head like she’s on a merry-go-round. It hits her like a freight train as she’s thinking about a possible love confession sprouting from this that Annabeth has a boyfriend still.

And Piper’s supposedly dating Reyna.

Fuck.

“Sure,” answers Piper, and Annabeth bites her lip in a way that makes Piper want to scream for her to _stop_. She looks cute- endearing, really- like that, and it just hurts more.

It hurts so much more.

Annabeth’s pencil hits her desk before she begins. “Are you- Do you and Reyna-”

Piper’s heart pangs. Her stomach drops. Of course Annabeth is the one to ask. Of course she’s the one to question. Piper just hopes that she and Reyna are convincing enough to get Annabeth off their tail and maybe- _maybe-_ get her jealous.

God, it sounds kind of pathetic when Piper thinks about it like that.

Annabeth still hasn’t asked her question, and it makes Piper raise an eyebrow. “Annie?”

“I just- I thought you and Reyna hated each other, and while I support you guys- god, I’d be such a hypocrite if I didn’t, wouldn’t I?- I just.” Annabeth takes a deep breath, and Piper thinks she knows where this is going. It makes her start a little. “I guess I’m just confused- when did you guys… stop hating each other?”

Piper doesn’t have an answer for her.

Fuck, she needs to talk to Reyna.

Fuck.

She wishes she had Reyna’s number.

“Uh,” is Piper’s great beginning. “You know, I…”

Annabeth is looking at her with such curiosity and genuine interest, Piper wants to say fuck it.

“ _When you and Percy started dating, I had had a crush on you for ages,_ ” Piper imagines herself saying with confidence. She can see Annabeth’s shocked, underlying expression like she’s watching it happen for real. “ _Reyna did, too. We were both heartbroken teens who were hurting, so we decided to fake date to make you jealous. I love you, Annabeth Eileen Chase, and I wish you weren’t dating Percy fucking Jackson_.”

In Piper’s imagination, Annabeth would grab her face and kiss her in the middle of Econ, right in front of everyone. But that’s not real. Piper needs to come up with something _real_ and _soon_ , or Annabeth will know it’s all a big, big lie.

Annabeth is still waiting for an answer.

“I mean, ever since you started dating Percy, we kind of got, like,” Piper forces herself to think of _words_ and _coherent sentences_ , “closer, I guess? I dunno, you’re always wrapped up in Percy, and Hazel’s wrapped up in Frank, and Calypso and Leo are always doing stuff together, and Reyna and I just kind of-”

She’s rambling, she knows she is. Somehow, coherent sentences are made into run-on sentences and Piper can’t seem to stop herself, especially when Annabeth looks like she’s about to argue and say she’s not wrapped up in Percy _that_ much. Which is unfair because she _so_ is, but if she were to argue, Piper would be the first to assure her that she isn’t.

Fucking hell.

“It’s not bad, you know! You and Percy are, you know, a good… couple, I guess, and it’s not like I’m complaining, but like… It just made me and Reyna get closer, I guess.” Piper winces. God, she can’t stop herself. She’s nervous. Her heart is pounding. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ \- “And when we got closer, we kind of just… realized there might be something there.”

Annabeth takes it well and she takes it thoughtfully. She sits there for a minute, and by the time she’s talking again, Piper is already working on the assignment again, grateful to have something to focus on that’s not the cute way Annabeth bites her lip thoughtfully, or how her lips are pink and glossy, or how Annabeth messes with her hair when she’s nervous-

“I just- god, this is going to sound bad- but are you guys, like- _sure_ you don’t hate each other anymore?” Annabeth presses. “I still remember you grumbling about her like it was yesterday, and I just…”

“We don’t hate each other,” Piper assures her, because they don’t. At least, they don’t any _more_ . It’s complicated, Piper realizes, but she doesn’t hate Reyna. She’s not sure if _hate_ was ever the right word for it either.

 _Jealous_ , something in her whispers. _Jealous is the right word_.

She can’t say it’s wrong.

“Okay,” Annabeth says. She bites her lip again and Piper wants to explode. “Are you guys… are you guys happy?”

Piper… doesn’t know how to answer that either. Her fingers, that she doesn’t remember moving, stop tapping the desk.

If she’s honest, she’s not happy. It’s not real anyway- Piper’s not sure what to be happy _about_. Her relationship with Reyna is weird and complicated even without the fake dating thrown into the mix.

But for the sake of pretending…

“I think so,” answers Piper, finally. “And if not happy, I think we’re… content, at the very least.”

Annabeth seems satisfied with the answer Piper gives her. She leans back into her chair and stares at her desk, pondering something else, but when she doesn’t ask another question, Piper returns to her work. Her heart is still pounding. Fuck. Is she convinced? Is she jealous? _Is it working-_

“Piper?”

If Piper and Reyna were in a real relationship, Piper would begin to feel annoyed right around now. She kind of feels annoyed already, but Annabeth means the world to her and maybe the reason she’s asking so many questions is because she’s, dare Piper say it, jealous.

God, please be jealous.

“Yeah, Annie?”

“Question five isn’t making any sense to me, so I think I’m reading it wrong. Do you mind?”

 _Please be jealous, Annie_.

_Please let this be working._

_Please don’t let this be for nothing._

  
  


Piper finds Reyna’s number in her list of contacts from an old group chat she and Reyna were apart of. As soon as Chemistry starts- their teacher watching them and listening for any signs of conversing like a hawk- Piper shoots Reyna a text and prays to god that Reyna has the common sense to keep her phone on silent.

 **pipes** 9:19 AM

so annabeth is asking questions

 **pipes** 9:19 AM

we should probably be coming up with a backstory

Reyna casts Piper a side look, but Piper just gestures to her phone as inconspicuous as possible.  Piper can see Reyna’s frown from the corner of her eye, but Reyna looks back at her phone anyways. Their teacher is busy getting the overhead projector ready.

 **reyn of terror** 9:20 AM

piper?

 **pipes** 9:20 AM

yeah

 **reyn of terror** 9:20 AM

hazels been asking things too fdsofh

 **reyn of terror** 9:20 AM

alright we’ll talk about after school

 **reyn of terror** 9:21 AM

my place this time?

 **pipes** 9:23 AM

sounds like a plan

  


Piper’s not sure how this conversation went from ‘backstory’ to ‘going on dates’, but, apparently, it’s there.

They’re in Reyna’s room in Reyna and her sister Hylla’s apartment. It’s small, but it’s okay because it’s a cute room. There’s plenty of room- Reyna really doesn’t have a lot of stuff, Piper notices- and Reyna’s decorated with minimal posters and pictures of what Piper is assuming to be friends and family.

It’s a cute room. Piper kind of likes it. It’s got this lived in feeling, like someone’s been here before and paved the way. Nothing is stiff from disuse in here.

She kind of wishes she lived in this room.

“Hazel was asking if we’ve ever been on a date before,” Reyna’s saying, and Piper’s not quite- sure. What she’s getting at, at first. “And when I said we haven’t yet- because this is pretty new, you know?- she asked why not. So I was thinking maybe we should- you know- go on a fake date.”

Reyna turns to Piper and meets her eyes, and Piper is- she doesn’t know. She blinks, and Reyna’s eyes are so, so brown. For a second, it’s like drowning, but Reyna interrupts the feeling by talking again. “Maybe post a few pictures about it to get people off our backs. What do you think?”

“Uh.” Piper moves her hair onto one shoulder, trying to focus on what Reyna’s said. “It- yeah, that makes… sense. What were you thinking we’d do?”

Reyna shrugs, and moves backwards on her bed. It’s covered in a dark purple duvet that’s scratchy and soft at the same time. Black swirls of fabric decorate it, too, and it looks old. Kind of worn, like most of the things Reyna has in her room.

Piper assumes she’s had it a long time.

Reyna catches her looking, and looks kind of sheepish.

“I’ll figure it out. Just plan for this Saturday to be free, alright?”

Piper nods slowly.

“Alright.” Reyna gets up from her bed and goes over to where she left her backpack. “You want to work on homework while you’re here?”

“...Sure.”

  


When Piper’s home, the only thing she’s thinking about is their date and what lies in store. No matter how long she thinks about it, she can’t come up with a plausible answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come scream about pipeyna or pjo with me pls i lov them  
> tumblr: @alluredbyyou  
> twitter: @ahannakwn  
> also have a femslash discord server if anyone wants to join: https://discord.gg/r2wfadJ


	5. curious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Date™.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh sorry its been a little bit!!! here's the chapterrrrrr

**005. _curious._**

 

 

 

Saturday comes quicker than it should.

Annabeth  _ and _ Hazel both come to help Piper get ready-  _ not _ Piper’s idea, at all. After Piper told them both, they both insisted on it. Calypso, apparently, is helping Reyna get ready anyway. When Piper asks why she has  _ two _ people helping her and Reyna only has one, they argue that Calypso should count as an entire team of hair stylists, makeup artists,  _ and _ outfit designers, so she’s the one who’s really getting the bad end of the deal. Which is fair, Piper guesses.

Except when Annabeth shows up on her doorstep, flat iron in hand and a determined expression that nearly makes her melt, Piper’s not sure she  _ is _ getting the bad end of the deal.

Hazel, despite seeming the most excited for her date, is the last to arrive. She texts five minutes after Annabeth gets there that she’ll be ten minutes late  _ at least _ , and to go on ahead. Apparently, her brother’s driving her over, and he’s not exactly known for being… on time.

Annabeth gets the straightener ready in the bathroom, and Piper is reminded of the time  _ she _ helped Annabeth get ready for her first date with Percy- just reversed. It… feels weird. Piper wishes she was getting ready for a date with Annabeth, for a split moment. She pushes the feeling away in exchange for taking a look in her closet for something Annabeth and Hazel might approve of. She’s not really even going on a date. It’s all fake.

Maybe if this works, she  _ can _ go on a date with Annabeth.

Before she knows it, Piper is dragged away from her task and to the bathroom, sat on a stool in the hallway bathroom by Annabeth. Annabeth is close.  _ Really _ close. Piper can feel her behind her, standing close in order to work with Piper’s hair. She suppresses a shiver- one, because it’s fucking weird, and two, because she really,  _ really _ doesn’t want to get burned by the straightener Annabeth now holds in her hand.

“I’m just going to give you a slight curl at the end, okay?” mutters Annabeth, and she’s  _ so close _ . Piper can feel her just beside her ear- can see her concentrating in the mirror, and she closes her eyes tightly.  _ God _ , why did she agree to this? This was torture.

A finger flicks her ear. “Hey. Is that okay?”

Piper goes to nod, but the finger flicks her ear again. She winces and gives Annabeth a thumbs up instead. Piper doesn’t trust her voice right now.

“Alright,” she hears Annabeth say quietly, and fingers slip into her hair, parting out sections quickly and carefully. Piper’s breath hitches a little, and it’s weird, but she can’t help it. God, she’s pathetic. She must move or something, because Annabeth flicks her neck. “Stay still.”

Piper does as she’s told.

It’s silent for a long time- the only noises are Annabeth’s slight hums, and the slight hissing the straightener makes sometimes. Piper’s still tense, and it gets increasingly uncomfortable. She wants to shift, but she can’t, and if she shifts, she’ll not only risk getting burned, but she’ll get closer to Annabeth and she’s not sure how  _ that _ would turn out-

“Do you know what you guys are doing for your date?” Annabeth asks, cutting through the silence like she’s got a knife. It clears Piper’s head, somewhat, and it makes her open her eyes and look at Annabeth in the mirror.

“Reyna didn’t tell me,” says Piper. “She just said to be ready by two and she’ll come get me.”

Annabeth makes a humming sound and leans forward, pressing against Piper’s back in the slightest way possible to get to the top of her head. Piper sucks in a deep breath, and hopes it wasn’t too obvious to Annabeth. Fuck. Shit.

If she notices, Annabeth doesn’t comment. “Sounds mysterious. Did she say anything else?”

“She told me to dress casually and in clothes I can move around in.”

“Hmm.” The straightening iron is hot. Piper can feel the heat on her ear. She trusts Annabeth not to burn her, but it still makes her want to jerk away from it everytime. “Exciting. I hope you two have a good time- make sure to send lots of snapchats and such, yeah? I’m sure Hazel will want some, too.”

Suddenly, Annabeth’s movements stop, and she leans back finally- Piper’s head feels like it’s clear, and her lungs feel open and free. She tries not to gasp dramatically.

“Hey, isn’t this your first date?”

Fuck.

“Uh- yeah, I guess it is.”

First dates aren’t really a big deal, Piper tries to convince herself- she tries to seem nervous, but on the inside, her face is scrunched up in disappointment. Fuck. She wanted to go on her first date with Annabeth- to the park just around the corner from the school, with fairy lights and picnic foods after dark. Piper used to daydream about that- it took up space in her mind for  _ days _ .

It’s fine. It’s a  _ fake _ date, technically. She’ll have an  _ official _ first date another time. Yeah. This doesn’t count… 

...Is it fake if everyone around her thinks it’s real?

Annabeth hits her shoulder, and Piper wonders if Annabeth’s ever hit her playfully so many times in the span of five minutes. “Aren’t you excited? I bet you guys will have lots of fun- dates can be nerve wracking, but you’ll be fine, Pipes.” Annabeth leans in closer to get the small hairs on the back of Piper’s neck- the heat of the straightener is almost searing. “You’ll be just fine.”

Piper doesn’t get to answer- she doesn’t know what she’d answer  _ with _ either way- because a knock on the front door downstairs echoes in her house. Piper has to force down the urge to bolt it out of there to get the door. 

“Looks like Hazel’s here,” Annabeth says, taking too long to take the straightener out of Piper’s hair and put it on the counter. “That, or Reyna’s here early- but it’s only like what? Noon?” She checks her phone and Piper gets up, moving towards the stairs. As soon as she reaches the bottom step, she leans over to prop herself on the opposite wall of the stairs, and then twists the door handle all from the bottom stair.

Hazel raises an eyebrow at Piper’s position. It’s kind of like a switch that flips- Piper was uncomfortable and just a flat, pining  _ mess _ when it was just Annabeth. But with Hazel there, it’s like taking a deep breath of sweet, sweet air.

“Hey. Too lazy to walk like two steps off of the stairs?”

Piper grins and just shrugs. “Didn’t feel like doing more than I had to.”

“It’s two steps, Pipes. Two steps won’t kill you.”

“Yeah, yeah, come on,” Piper says, pushing off from the wall. Hazel takes a step inside and closes the door behind her. “Annabeth’s upstairs with hot items and she likes to make me nervous by putting them too close to my skin.”

“That’s not good.”

They hurry up the stairs, to where Annabeth is waiting impatiently. Then Hazel and Annabeth get to work.

  
  


Hazel does Piper’s makeup while Annabeth finishes up her hair and moves on to finding her the ‘most perfect outfit ever’. Hazel’s quick- Piper loves her a lot, oh my god- she gets everything done in less than ten minutes. And when Piper gets to see it, it looks  _ good _ . Piper looks- dare she say it-  _ pretty _ .

What Piper’s almost ashamed to say is how long it takes for the three of them to find a suitable outfit.

Piper’s not really picky about her outfit. To be honest, she’s perfectly fine with grabbing a random t-shirt and a pair of random jeans she’s found in the back of her closet- it’s  _ Annabeth _ who’s being picky. For Piper’s date. With another girl.

It’s confusing. It’s- Piper’s not even sure this is working.

The only thing that keeps Piper from giving up hope is the looks that Annabeth gives her sometimes, when she thinks Piper isn’t looking. They’re thoughtful looks- not longing- but it’s a start.

Maybe.

“Alright, what about this one?” Hazel suggests. She holds up a knitted sweater with a turtle neck thing going on that Piper got for her birthday last year and a pair of Piper’s black skinny jeans. Piper likes it- she kind of just wants to be done with it. Annabeth, however, scrutinizes it.

“Isn’t it a bit warm to be wearing that?” Annabeth asks, and Hazel gives her a look. 

“It’s November- it’s getting colder out. It’d be fine,” Hazel argues, then holds the outfit up higher. “So yes or no?”

“I like it,” Piper pipes up. Annabeth still isn’t convinced, and Piper wants to groan out loud. 

Can’t she just  _ pick _ something?

“Is there anything else?” Annabeth asks. Hazel shakes her head.

“We’ve literally gone through Piper’s entire closet, so unless you want to revisit other options, this is it. Besides,” Hazel gives it a side look and smiles softly- Piper thinks she’s adorable, “I think it’s really cute. It’ll look great on Pipes.”

Annabeth still looks wary, but Piper gives her a nudge. When Annabeth meets her eyes- Piper raises an eyebrow.

_ What’s got you so picky _ ? Piper tries to say without speaking.

Annabeth gets the message. She frowns a little and doesn’t answer Piper’s silent question. Instead, she lets out a breath and gives in. “Alright. It  _ is _ cute. It’ll work.”

Piper smiles.

  
  


They add a pair of sparkly earrings shaped as leaves, and a pair of flats. Hazel says she looks fantastic, and keeps brushing things off as if there’s imaginary dust collecting on her. Annabeth won’t stop looking at her, even when she thinks Piper isn’t looking.

  
  


Reyna picks Piper up at exactly two in the afternoon. 

Despite the whole thing being fake, Piper appreciates the punctuality. 

Just before Reyna arrived, Annabeth and Hazel forced her to take a photo shoot of sorts- they told her to pose and work the outfit, but in a lot of them, Piper just kind of stares at them, unamused. Annabeth posts them all to snapchat and a few to instagram.

Reyna rings the doorbell right around then. And when Piper opens the door, she’s surprised she’s not blinded, because Reyna looks  _ good. _

She would never admit it to anyone, but the pink button up Reyna is wearing over something black and lacy-  _ is that her  _ bra _?! _ \- matches Reyna so perfectly. It makes her face look softer, somehow, but her eyes still hold their cold determination, made more intense by the slight, winged eyeliner. The black jeggings she has cling to her legs and show off all of the training they’ve been doing in lacrosse, and the pink lipstick she has on makes her normally tan skin look even darker.

“Jesus,” Piper whispers, because she’s never been good at the  _ think, then speak _ thing. Reyna actually looks a little red- but it’s not at the comment. She’s staring at  _ Piper _ and Piper wonders if it’s a big difference, for Reyna, to see her in something other than a graphic t-shirt to school or her lacrosse uniform.

Annabeth, who stands just behind Piper, lets out a giggle, and Reyna seems to come back to her senses, even if Piper’s… still looking.

“You ready?” Reyna asks. Piper nods in response, but she can’t seem to… look away. Reyna’s pink shirt looks-  _ weird _ over the black, lacy bra. Piper has half a mind to-

Oh,  _ fuck _ no.

“Yep,” Piper says, and looks away pointedly. Reyna raises an eyebrow- Piper can tell, but she’s not going to think about it. This is to make Annabeth jealous. This is to finally get Annabeth to  _ notice _ her. “Let’s go.”

They say goodbye to Hazel and Annabeth- both of whom send Piper sly smirks that Piper doesn’t know the meaning of (she does, but she pretends not to. She’s not going into that today. Not right now. Nope)- and Reyna leads her to her driveway, where an older, silver Camry sits.

“I didn’t know you had a car.”

Reyna doesn’t meet her eyes, but she shrugs, like it’s not a big deal. “It’s my sister’s. She said I could borrow it because- because, uh,” Reyna clears her throat and looks a little red again, “it’s too far to walk.”

Piper doesn’t know what Reyna’s blushing means. She’s not sure she can handle knowing, either.

Nope, not today.

  
  


Reyna doesn’t tell Piper where they’re going until they pull into the parking lot and the mall is crowded when they get there. Teenage girls- some who look older than them, some who look a little younger- line up on the sidewalks mostly. There are scattered groups of guys and girls, and just guys, sprinkled in there too. Families make their ways to their cars, other adults laugh boisterously in a way that suggests they’re drunk, or a little tipsy at least. Just what a mall should look like.

Piper gives Reyna a pleading look.

“ _ Please _ tell me we’re not going shopping as a first date.”

Reyna blinks at her, trying to pull into a parking space near the front as some minivan pulls out of it, and it hits Piper maybe a little late that she forgot to tag on ‘fake’ in that sentence. But really, that should be a given, right?

“ _ Hell _ no,” Reyna answers her after a moment- seemingly catching on to what she had said. “No offense to the people who like to shop or anything, but that’s not really a… date thing, I guess. At least, not a first date.”

Piper’s shoulders drop in relief and she lets out a hum. “I see. So where  _ are _ we going, then?”

Reyna grins, and the sight of her grin scares Piper a little. Her heart pounds- kind of like a fluttering. Instead of answering, Reyna takes the keys out of the ignition and opens her door.

“I’ll show you.”

  
  
  


They don’t go into the mall. At all. Actually, they walk along the sidewalk until they’re just passed it and around the corner- in front of a red building that Piper’s never noticed before.  _ Frankie’s Arcade _ blinks at her in bright, neon orange lights even though it’s not dark out. The closer they get, the more she hears- the  _ whoosh _ ing of rides, the laughter of people, the loud bumping of cars, and curses of people who’ve lost their money. There’s beeping noises, too- machine generated noises that make Piper’s eyes widen.

Before they go in, Piper snaps a quick photo of the sign, and captions it on snapchat. Then she posts it to her story, for all of their friends to see, and follows Reyna inside.

  
  
  


_ “Fuck _ ,” is all Piper can say.

Reyna brought her to an arcade.

A fucking  _ arcade _ .

There’s games lined up everywhere- machines that give out tickets in exchange for credits and effort; actual play houses that Piper is  _ definitely _ going to check out, even if she’s turning seventeen in April and should in no way be near those things; signs for go-karts, rides, bumper cars, and the like outside; there’s even fucking  _ laser tag _ .

Reyna’s still grinning widely, in a way that makes Piper want to hit her arm to get her to  _ stop _ because really, this is amazing. It’s only fair that Piper gets to gawk at it, just a little bit.

“Is this what heaven looks like?” Piper whispers, taking in everything. She must look like a kid- or insane- with her head whipping around, drinking in every sight like she’ll lose it if she looks away for too long. “Because I’m never going to sin again, god _ damn _ .”

Reyna laughs. “If anything, this would be more like hell, what with all the drinking and greasy food.” She points to the cafe, which is serving fucking  _ cheese fries _ and pizza, and mozzarella sticks, and cotton candy, and funnel cake-

“In that case, I’m sinning all the time. You’re going to have to start calling me ‘Sinnin’ Pipes’ soon.”

“That’ll be something.” Reyna’s hand grabs Piper’s upper arm, and gently guides her through the crowd. “Come on, we’ve gotta get our cards first, then you can have all the fun you want.”

The lady at the front desk is nice. She takes one look at them- at their outfits, and at Reyna’s hand on Piper’s arm, and comes to the conclusion of what they  _ want _ everyone to think- even if Piper’s insides are screaming  _ it’s fake! It’s all fake! _ Piper learns her name is Karen, and Reyna tries to pay for them both.

It doesn’t sit right with Piper. Part of her thinks ‘ _ sure, it’s a date and if she wants to, I’ll get next time _ ’. But the  _ next time _ scares her, and the other part of her screams  _ it’s fake, it’s all fake! _ , so Piper ends up paying for herself instead. If it pisses Reyna off a little, Piper’s not sure she cares. That’s how Piper spends fifty bucks on an arcade place- and she knows she’ll  _ definitely _ be spending more. Except, she can’t bring herself to care, because when she turns around to face the bright lights and high pitch, machine generated noises, she grins so wide she thinks her face will split in half.

“Excited?” Reyna asks.

Piper nods excitedly. “ _ Oh _ yeah, definitely. I don’t- I didn’t even know these kinds of places  _ existed _ , let alone  _ go _ to one.”

“My sister used to bring me here for my birthday,” Reyna supplies- more readily that Piper would expect. “She’d save up as much as she could and then we would blow at least a third of it here. Everything else would go toward a present or something we needed. I have a lot of good memories here- and my good memories inform me that some of these games literally eat your money up, so be careful of that.”

“What else do they tell you?”

Reyna grins and holds up her card. “That we should blow most of our money at laser tag.”

“Sounds fair to me.”

“Better get ready, McLean,” Reyna taunts. “I’m gonna whoop your ass so hard at this game.”

“ _ Oho _ , I’d like to see you fuckin’  _ try _ .”

  
  
  
  


They  _ do _ blow their money at laser tag- and other various games- so much so, that they have to add more money on at least twice more in the next two hours, and they don’t stop until four rolls around. Even then, that’s only to refuel at the cafe, with greasy pizza and cheese fries. Every so often, Piper or Reyna would snap a photo and post it to snapchat- Piper has twenty replies from each friend that she hasn’t even bothered to check, she’s been so caught up in all of the games and food.

Frankly, this is the best, first, fake date Piper’s ever fucking had.

“So,” Reyna says, after half of the food is gone and Piper is deciding on whether or not she really  _ need _ more cheese fries, “got a good amount of tickets?”

Not that Piper would admit this to Reyna, but she had kind of… sucked completely at more of the ticket-winning games. So no, she did  _ not _ think she got a good amount of tickets. At all. It’s a good thing that the tickets are recorded on their cards, too, because she would have lost the little amount she  _ did _ win.

Instead of telling that to Reyna, she nods. “I think so, yeah.”

You know, like a liar.

“Want to trade them out for prizes after we finish eating, then head out?”

Piper pouts- but her wallet and feet plead with her- ‘ _ please, Piper,’ _ they cry,  _ ‘no more, no more’ _ . So she sighs. “Not really, but I’m not sure my wallet could survive much more, so.”

Reyna laughs. It’s loud, and sudden, but it’s carefree. Light. Full of amusement. Piper would be lying if she said it didn’t make her heart pound faster.

  
  
  


Reyna laughs again- louder, this time- when Piper’s total amount of tickets comes to three hundred and sixty-seven- a very, very low amount. Piper gets to laugh even harder, though, when Reyna’s comes to a whopping three hundred and seventy-two. They barely have enough for anything  _ truly _ exciting- Reyna suggests Piper keeps her card for the next time. When Piper asks why Reyna hasn’t done that, she laughs when she learns that Reyna has ten cards of her own at home, because she never remembers to bring them in, or where they are.

In the end, Reyna gets three lollipops, and Piper gets a rainbow slinky that  _ barely _ makes it under her ticket range at three hundred and sixty tickets. 

They leave Frankie’s Arcade, laughing and teasing each other, and it hits Piper how at ease they are. How Reyna’s grown from a rival, to an ally, to… what Piper considers, at least, a friend.

  
  


Reyna walks Piper to her door. It’s a sweet gesture Piper’s not expecting- when Reyna pulls up into her driveway, she waves in parting, but Reyna pulls the keys out of the ignition and the car sputter into silence.

“What kind of date would I be if I left you to walk to your door by yourself?” Reyna says jokingly. But there’s something there- something unsaid- that keeps Piper from protesting. From saying ‘this isn’t a date’. Instead, she just nods and accepts it. She lets Reyna walk her to her door without any complaints.

The walk is awkward. Piper doesn’t know where to look- does she look at Reyna? Does she look at her house? Her hands? Her feet? She feels nervous, and confused- more than she should be. God, it’s all fake and yet she’s acting like she’s a middle schooler.

Her front porch is intimidating. Her hand rests on the door handle, ready to sprint inside at the first sign that she’s allowed to, but Reyna’s biting her lip like she wants to say something. Like she doesn’t want this to end.

With a start, Piper realizes she doesn’t really want it to end so soon either.

“I had a fun time today,” Piper ends up saying into the silence, to break it. To keep her from focusing so much on her thoughts and the dangerous places they’re leading to. “I don’t usually go to places like arcades, but after today, I think I might switch things up a bit.”

Reyna’s lips quirk up into a smile that Piper just can’t look away from. “I’m glad. Do you, uh. Think people bought it?”

Piper nods, then opens her phone to show her the amount of messages from Hazel, Calypso, and Annabeth alone. 

“Oh yeah, I think they did.”

Reyna lets out a small chuckle that Piper finds herself sharing. They stay on the top step for a bit, not sure how to continue. Piper feels like she’s being caged into a spot- but it’s not as bad as it sounds. Like the world’s falling away and it’s just them, on her porch, searching for something to say but not daring to cross the line they’ve made for themselves. Finally, Piper can’t handle it. She tightens her grip on the handle.

“I better head inside.”

Reyna nods- clearing her throat and looking elsewhere, her cheeks looking… warm. “Yeah. I’ll uh, see you on Monday, then.”

Piper nods. “See ya.”

It’s quick. Reyna leans in, her lips touching Piper’s cheek in a fast peck, and there’s a flash of a camera. Piper blinks, and Reyna’s holding up her phone, the picture she just took on screen for her to see.

“For Snapchat,” Reyna defends. Then she’s heading down the driveway without another word. Piper touches her cheek and watches after her for a moment. Then she goes inside.

The picture never makes it to Snapchat.

  
  


**> >pipes <3 <3 <3 <3’s story**

_ [Frankie’s Arcade sign.] _

she took me to an arcade!!

2h ago 26 Views   10 Replies

_ [Overview of different games.] _

_ soooo _ many games wtf am i in heaven

2h ago 23 Views    8 Replies

_ [Reyna in laser tag gear, giving a thumbs up to the camera.] _

ima beat her ass just w a i t

2h ago 20 Views    9 Replies

_ [Blurred picture of someone and bright lights.] _

fucking captain of the lacrosse team my ASS i totally beat her

1h ago 19 Views    7 Replies

_ [Piper playing Fruit Ninja on a giant screen and cussing loudly when she messes up.] _

she’s a mess someone help her

1h ago 16 Views    6 Replies

_ [Blurred pic.] _

HFUOSHDSNHD REYNRA IS AN ASHOLEE

1h ago 14 Views    6 Replies

_ [Cafe food.] _

im gonna die look at all those chickens

30m ago 13 Views    6 Replies

_ [Frankie’s Arcade sign.] _

had loads of fun- so sad to leave i wanna stay forever. 10/10 would rec and @my bitches we def coming here

10m ago 13 Views    6 Replies


	6. cliff's edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper and Reyna talk about Annabeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry for how incredibly late this is! junior year is kicking my ass rn. please enjoy these lesbians.

**006. _cliff's edge_.**

 

Monday is a lot.

Annabeth didn’t say anything after the date- she barely answered any of Piper’s texts, really, for the rest of Saturday. Sunday morning, she texted to apologize and explain she was with Percy, but Piper’s mind screams _but what if she’s lying_ ? _What if it’s working_?

In Econ, Annabeth is normal. And by normal, Piper means _before_ any of this fake dating stuff. Not before getting with Percy, but just after. She doesn’t beg Piper for details about the date. Most of their conversation about the date went like this:

Annabeth: So how was the date?

Piper: It was fun. I had a great time with Reyna.

Annabeth: Good, I’m glad… Can you help me with this question?

Piper never really pinned Annabeth as the ‘want to know everything about everything’ type when it comes to romance. But she thought maybe Annabeth would ask more about it, if she really _didn’t_ feel something for Piper.

Mixed signals. That’s all Piper is getting from all of this. It’s frustrating to the point she just wants to shake Annabeth’s shoulders and ask what the _hell_ she’s thinking about all of this so that she knows. Piper just wants to know if it’s working.

Piper just wants to know if she still can have hope.

For a few seconds in Chemistry, neither Piper nor Reyna know what to say to each other. Reyna’s there first- Piper’s still standing in between the desk aisles, wondering how this is going to go. It’s weird- she kind of expects things to backtrack. Two steps forward, one step back. But Reyna gives her half of a nervous smile, and Piper finds herself sliding into her seat and giving her one back.

It’s tense. Tense like they both expect the other will open their mouths and say something that’ll set them back from Saturday- back to the old patterns of barely getting along and sniping at each other like mad. Piper considers telling Reyna what her dad had said about the date after she had told him, but then wonders if she’d be stupid to. Is it weird that Piper had told her dad? Would it be weird for Piper to tell Reyna about it?

“My dad wanted me to tell you that he liked your date idea,” Piper ends up blurting. “Said he wants to go to an arcade for a date and that you’re a keeper.”

Okay, admittedly, maybe Piper _shouldn’t_ have added the ‘keeper’ part in there, but it’s worth it when Reyna lets out a little laugh instead of giving her a weird look.

“You told your dad about it?” Reyna says, surprising Piper. She’s glad, though, that Reyna doesn’t mention the small ‘ _but we’re fake dating_ ’ or ‘ _too bad it’s not real_ ’.

Piper laughs, a little more nervously than she’d like to. “Yeah… I tell him a lot of things. I mean- I know it’s not _real_ , but it’s real to him and everyone else so I figure-”

“I think it’s cute.”

Piper smiles a little wider, and a little less nervously.

Needless to say, the tension disappears like someone flipped a switch. Piper’s insanely glad for it.

  
  


Things are easier. Pretending- it gets easier when you’re not afraid the other person isn’t going to scream at you for even _thinking_ about touching them, even if it’s irrational. Kissing Reyna becomes somewhat of an expected part of Piper’s day over the next two weeks or so, and holding her hand around others becomes a habit. It’s weird. It’s intimate in a way Piper never- not in a million years- thought she’d be with Reyna, even if it is fake.

Annabeth still gives them looks that Piper can never begin to figure out. She looks when she thinks Piper isn’t- and the gaze is never longing. Almost as if she’s studying them and their movements, trying to see through them. As if trying to see if it’s _real_ , if they _really_ care for each other that much. It makes Piper pull Reyna a little closer, hold on to her a little tighter, trying to get a reaction out of Annabeth- _anything_ , dammit. It always has the opposite effect. When Annabeth looks away, it’s with satisfaction or with ease, as if she’s getting closer to finding out an answer she’s been searching for, and it’s always mixed with a little frown. But Piper can never tell if it’s a frown of disappointment or _what_.

Piper doesn’t know. If this works out how it’s supposed to, she’ll find out. She’ll figure it all out, in the end.

Hopefully.

  


“Is she still looking?”

Piper lets her eyes drift over to where Annabeth is sitting, leaning against Percy from where the group’s table as Percy and Jason talk animatedly. She’s watching Percy talk with a small, content smile as he talks that makes Piper’s heart ache.

“No, not anymore.” Piper says. Reyna makes a face, and lets go of Piper’s waist, taking a step to the side and pushing her hands in her pockets. Piper’s heart jumps- because what if Annabeth looks back over?- but she lets it slide. They’re in line at the McDonalds near the school, because obviously their entire group hates themselves, and have been tasked with getting everyone’s orders. Piper decides it’s the perfect time to inform Reyna of her observations.

“Weird. I didn’t notice that,” Reyna says, and the line inches forward a smudge, which makes no sense. A human body is not a smudge wide- they should be moving up _more_. Yet, they only move a smudge, and Reyna’s still talking. “You think that that means it’s working?”

Piper gives her a shrug. “Maybe. I don’t- I don’t think they’re _sad_ or longing looks though, which makes it weirder. She looks like she’s studying us.”

“Maybe she needs a little more convincing?”

Another shrug. “Maybe.”

“I can help whoever’s next.”

Reyna steps forward before Piper can and starts spouting off orders from a note she had made in her phone. When Piper looks over at the table again, Annabeth is giving them that same look.

Their eyes meet for a split second. Annabeth gives her a little smile before turning away, back to her boyfriend and their table of friends as if she had never been looking in the first place.

  
  


Reyna does not look well the next day.

She’s got gray around her eyes like she’s been tossing and turning all night, and she blinks a little too slowly to be fully awake when Piper calls her name. In Chemistry, Piper sees something she never thought would happen as long as she lived- Reyna falls asleep in the middle of class.

Her head rests on the desk, and her cheek is squished, and- _shit_ , is she drooling on her worksheet?! One of the pages flutters with every deep and steady breath Reyna takes.

Piper elbows her in the side, maybe a little harder than necessary, when their teacher comes around to pass out another worksheet. Reyna winces and lets out a pained- but, thankfully, quiet- grunt as she sits up, and Piper lets out a sigh of relief.

“You alright?” Piper whispers to her, after Ms. Athens passes right by them, and the worksheets settle on their desks.

Reyna blinks in response, and then gives a little nod.

“Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” she says, doesn’t explain further. Piper doesn’t pry.

Class drags on, and Reyna continues to yawn and doze. It’s kind of worrying. If Piper thought Ms. Athens would stay away long enough, she’d tell Reyna to take a nap and do the notes for her. But the Chemistry teacher continues to make rounds around the classroom, so Piper keeps her mouth shut.

Just before class ends, Reyna nudges Piper’s arm.

“Do you think that you’d want to hang out after school? I don’t feel like going home, and I don’t feel like being alone either…”

Piper thinks Reyna needs a nap. And if she doesn’t want to go home to do it…

“Sure,” Piper says without much thought. “My house? You can rest a bit there.”

Reyna tenses up, as if that idea is nerve wracking, and shakes her head. “I’ll be fine-”

“You literally just fell asleep during class, and I’ve never seen you do that before. You need a bit of rest- you don’t want to go home and going out anywhere else won’t help, so why not? We could just watch a movie or something.”

For a moment, Piper doesn’t think Reyna will agree. But then Reyna’s shoulders relax, and she nods.

The bell rings not two minutes later, and Piper tells Reyna they’ll meet up after their Creative Writing class together as they collect their things, shoving them into binders in the rush. There’s no lacrosse practice today, thankfully, she jokes. Reyna, too tired to laugh, only nods in understanding, and then they part ways.

Piper’s just grateful she drove to school today.

 

The drive from school to Piper’s house isn’t very long. At the very most, it’s ten minutes, tops.

But it feels like forty.

The more time Piper spends with Reyna, the more she becomes accustomed to silence. She’s not sure if the silence is awkward or not- it was, in the beginning. But now Piper doesn’t feel the need to say anything, or to fill the space with _noise_. It’s… kind of nice, she thinks. Not something she’d want all the time- god, no- but nice while it lasted.

After all, all good things come to an end, don’t they?

At some point, Reyna turns on the radio in Piper’s Jeep, turning the volume down low before resuming her position of gazing out the window. Every so often, her head will jerk up, and Piper will watch her blink rapidly from the corner of her eye. Everytime, Piper shakes her head almost fondly.

A song on the radio lets out a long, impossible note as Piper pulls into the driveway- one that would have had Piper choking and gasping for breath if she had been singing along. It’s cut off abruptly when Piper parks and takes the keys out of the ignition. Reyna does that blinking thing again- like she’s trying to focus on reality but it’s slipping from her. Piper gives her half of a smile.

“We’re here,” she says, rather softly for Reyna. “Let’s get inside and you can get a well deserved nap.”

  


Reyna crashes on Piper’s bed not long after they reach her room.

It’s kind of funny- Reyna falls in and out of sleep while Piper does her homework at her desk, and every so often, Reyna will move around on the bed, looking completely out of it and tired. Then she’ll flop on the bed again and let out a happy sigh that makes Piper’s heart twist. It’s weird. It’s… cute.

Reyna sleeps for two hours before she finally rises. And when she is, Piper doesn’t really notice it, at first. She’s too busy messing with papers and writing down notes as she completes her essay for English- a messy and half assed attempt, really, but she doesn’t feel like rewriting right now. Piper doesn’t notice Reyna stirring until later, when Reyna interrupts the silence around them.

“What are your plans for after highschool?”

Piper blinks her eyes at the question, turning her head away from her Trigonometry equations to meet brown, inquiring eyes. The small bags from earlier have vanished- but they look more tired. More burdened than rested. It makes Piper’s lips pull into a frown.

Reyna stares at her from the bed, head propped up on a pillow that she snatched from the other end of Piper’s bed. She’s laying the wrong way- legs bent into the air behind her like she’s a teenage girl at a sleepover looking for gossip. It’s hard for Piper to think with that stare on her.

“Um,” Piper says dumbly. “I’m not really sure, I guess. I haven’t gotten that far.”

The look Reyna gives her is not impressed. It gives Piper a bad taste- less of _offended_ , and more of _I don’t want you to give me that look_.

_I don’t want you looking disappointed in me._

“What about you?” Piper ends up saying- more defensively, she figures, than she should be. Reyna bites her lip in a way that brings Piper slight satisfaction, until Reyna sinks into the bed- face revealing the slightest bit of defeat.

“That’s why I was up so late,” Reyna says. Her eyes look away from Piper’s. “Hylla and I got into a fight- she wants me to go to a big name college. Do something big, and-” Reyna uses finger quotes, “-’use the potential she knows I have’ to make a big name company or something. But I..”

Reyna purses her lips, and her voice drops to a low mumble- Piper’s ears strain trying to understand. “I don’t _want_ that. I want to make movies. I want to do- I want to do _something_.” Reyna lets out a sigh. “I don’t really know. I’m sorry, it’s stupid-”

“Hey,” Piper cuts in. “It’s not stupid. That’s- that’s really cool, actually. You’d be great at making movies.”

Silence settles over them- Piper could cut the tension with a knife. For a second, she imagines reaching out and seeing if she can touch it. She doesn’t- she doesn’t want to look like a whack-job in front of Reyna.

Piper’s fingers wring themselves anxiously in her lap. She doesn’t know what to say- what _should_ she say? They’re rivals- or, were rivals- and rivals don’t have these kinds of conversations. What Reyna needs, Piper thinks, is a friend right now. And Piper isn’t her friend.

The thought is sobering.

Reyna moves on the bed- shifting on the covers of her duvet. She looks conflicted- her cheeks, Piper notes, are slightly redder than they were before.

“Thanks.”

She says it quietly, like she’d rather be caught dead saying that. Piper stares, dumbfounded, and sputters something that sounds like ‘don’t mention it’, but Piper’s not even sure about that. The only thing she’s sure about is that her fingers itch and her cheeks are warm, and her heart picks up its pace, and she’s. Shit.

Another subject- she needs something else to talk about- she needs a _different topic_ -

“What’s your dream college?” Piper blurts out. She realizes belatedly that that may not be a good topic, but Reyna’s tense shoulders relax. Good. She wanted an out just as badly as Piper did.

Reyna sits up on the bed and pulls out her phone instead of answering the question- she taps the screen a few times, types out a few words, and then holds out the phone for Piper to take.

 _NYU Tisch School Of The Arts_ stares back at Piper in fancy letters when she gets the phone.

“They’ve got a good directing program,” Reyna explains as Piper’s eyes dart over the details that Google shows her. “And they’re a good school, so they’re extremely competitive, but I think I’ll have a good shot.”

Piper smiles. Reyna’s phone dims, so she taps the screen to keep it on, and then passes it back to the owner, who watches her almost anxiously- like she’ll judge Reyna for her choices in colleges.

“It looks like a good school.” Piper moves hair behind her ear. “And even if it’s competitive, that’s, like, your thing anyway, right?”

That makes Reyna smile in the smallest bit- the corner of her lips turn upwards. But she’s not looking at Piper- at least at her face. Her eyes are following Piper’s movement. She sounds a little distant and dazed as she replies with a simple “thanks”.

The silence that settles after is long. Longer than Piper would like in _any_ situation. She shifts uncomfortably in her seat. Reyna looks away and at her hands in her lap. Finally, Reyna opens her mouth.

“What about you? Any college plans?”

To that, Piper shrugs. In truth, she _had_ no plan. College still seemed so far away despite the year that stood in between, compared to the seven it had been when she first had thought about it. In that time, her interests had changed. _She_ had changed. And now, she’s stuck with so many _‘I wants_ ’ and too little chances.

“I don’t have any at the moment,” Piper says simply. Reyna, she can sense, wants to make a comment on it- instead, she deflects. “While we’re asking questions, do you want to just- just ask more? Get to know each other a little?”

Reyna blinks. “Ask questions like _what_?”

Piper has no idea. “Uh, I guess like… dream apartment? We can take turns and just go back and forth until we get tired of it.”

“And why would we do that?”

“Well, you don’t want to go home yet, I’m guessing,” Piper points out. “And my dad would kill me if he knew you were just sitting around bored the whole time- proper host manners and all. So why not?”

Piper doesn’t add that by _host_ , she means more of _girlfriend_ , but Reyna doesn’t say anything. Instead, Reyna purses her lips. Then lets out a long, long breath as if Piper’s idea would take the life energy out of her just by participating.

“Okay fine. My dream apartment would be in New York, I think. Somewhere high. Simple and modern, and where I can look over the city. It doesn’t need to be _big_. Just… high. Simple. Yeah.” She nods her head at Piper. “Your turn.”

“Mine would be in the city too,” Piper says. “Closer to the ground, but not ground floor. I’d like it to be a little homey, but not cluttered, you know? Uh- multiple rooms though. I don’t need to be flashing anyone who comes over while they’re cooking.”

The ice between them breaks as Reyna laughs. Piper smiles and tries to fight it down, but it feels like, with the ice gone, she’s not flustered. As much, at least.

“I want a big kitchen, too,” she goes on, “so that Leo or Jason can come over and cook for me- a big, three course gourmet meal with dessert afterwards.”

That makes Reyna laugh, too. “What, you won’t cook in it?”

“I mean, I _would_ , but not like they could. My cooking, not including warming up leftovers or packaged foods, includes like three meals and that’s it. _But_ ,” Piper says, “Jason and Leo can make some good food. So it’d be more of for them, then for me. Now next question- what’s your dream date?”

Reyna leans backwards on the bed, leaning on her hands like she’s lying on the beach, in the sand, and about to get some sun. She’s got an eyebrow raised and a small smile that makes Piper’s heart thump. “Why? Planning to make it a reality?”

Piper nearly chokes on her own spit. She tries to play it off as a laugh, but it’s too startled to play off convincingly, and Piper knows Reyna can tell. Her cheeks flush, and her throat burns a little from the sudden coughing fit she goes into.

“Uh,” Piper dazzles with her amazing charm. She coughs a little, and tries to sound more playful than she feels. “Well. I guess- I am your _fake_ girlfriend,-” it sounds weird to say out loud, “-so I should at least make it look like I’m trying to sweep you off your feet.”

She says it as a joke, but Reyna seems to go through three facial expressions at once, none of which she can begin to understand in the first place. Piper goes to open her mouth, but Reyna beats her to it.

“Fair point,” she says. Reyna’s fingers start to play with the tail of her braid. “You already know it, in a way, but we, uh, already went on my dream date.”

Despite the obviousness of the answer, Piper’s mind short circuits for a split moment. “The arcade?”

Reyna hesitates, not looking at Piper and still twirling the tail of her braid. Then she nods.

“You took me on your dream date, to the arcade that means something to you.”

“Yeah,” Reyna says, like it’s no big deal, but it doesn’t match the nervous twirling, as if she’s trying to seem bigger than she is. “Now it’s your turn to answer the question.”

Piper wants to ask further- the questions swirl around in her head like a hurricane of unwanted feelings- but she knows, if she asks, Reyna won’t answer her. “Yeah, alright.”

Dream vacations, dream lives- eventually, they move on to other questions, because there are only so many ‘dream’ things you can have. The atmosphere turns from tense to relax with each question and it feels _good_. Reyna’s laugh makes Piper want to join in each and every time. They learn a lot about each other. Reyna learns about Piper’s promise to herself never to eat meat again, to which Reyna tells Piper about her sister’s vegan phase.

“It was awful,” Reyna had been saying, as Piper holds her sides and practically howls with laughter. “For like three months, she wouldn’t let me have _anything_ with eggs in it- pancakes were out of the question entirely-”

“Poor you,” Piper had teased, and Reyna had snickered in a way that had Piper laughing all over again.

Piper learned that Reyna twisted her ankle to the point of near breaking in the second grade trying to climb a climbing wall without a harness- “Hylla said I was too young, so I couldn’t let _that_ slide,”- and in return, Piper told the time she shoved socks down the toilet of her dad’s acting studio when she was four- “He wasn’t paying attention to me, and I _told_ him I hated those socks!”

At some point, they move places, with Reyna now spread out on Piper’s bed and Piper sitting at the end of the bed, on the floor where Reyna can’t see her and vice versa, tossing a rubber ball she found on her desk.

It’s weird getting to know Reyna. But Piper finds that she likes weird more and more.

But then the inevitable question is asked. It’s when the quiet starts to set in- when they’re both thinking of questions to ask the other, but it feels like the only question left is the one you’re not even sure you want to hear. The one you don’t even know if you want to _ask_. And the one who ends up asking, believe it or not, is Piper.

“When did you..” her mouth is dry for reasons unknown. Piper clears her throat, as if that’ll help in any way, and tries again. “When did you, you know… learn that you liked Annabeth?”

Piper can hear Reyna sucking in a soft breath and letting it out, like she knew this question was coming, yet it still took her by surprise. The bed creaks with Reyna’s movements as she adjusts, and Piper waits patiently. The silence stretches between them- each second crawls by as if Reyna is gathering all the words she wants to say, like picking apples off of trees. Just when Piper thinks she’s going to ignore the question all together, Reyna speaks up.

“Well, I,” is all she says in the beginning. She lets out a noise of annoyance and tries again. “Freshman year. I’d just moved, and things were… hard. Hylla wasn’t having the best time adjusting, despite the fact she’s the one who made us move. She’d sit in the bathroom for a long, long time, and I could hear her trying to keep it together inside. She was only about eighteen then, and she was already taking care of a fourteen year old sister and having to take over as a parent.

It… really affected me. Summer was hard. And then- then I started school, freshman year in a totally new place.” Reyna’s breath is shaky. “I didn’t have any friends for the first few weeks. And then this girl- this pretty, blonde girl walks up to me with her friend and introduces herself and her friends to me. And then she asked me to join them.”

Reyna trails off again. Piper’s bed creaks as she lays down again- Piper never realized it was so _noisy_ \- and continues.

“Annabeth was pretty. She made my heart jump when she smiled. She didn’t seem weirded out by the fact I like girls, and I just- _god_ , I fell quick.” Another creak of the bed. “I don’t know. Your turn.”

Piper turns the ball in her hand. It’s a bluish purple, with swirls of pink mixed in that make it stand out. The rubber feels weird in her hands. “I don’t know when I found out.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I mean I _don’t know_. It just kind of- I never had an ‘oh wow I’m in love’ moment, I just kind of… always knew. It was just a fact.”

Piper tosses the ball. It bounces off the carpet, loses momentum, and rolls on the floor, farther and farther away from her. Reyna doesn’t say anything, so Piper continues. “I know what made me fall for her, though.”

Piper can practically hear Reyna’s hesitation. “What was it?”

“She was confident as fuck.”

Reyna lets out a surprised laugh that makes Piper grin. It’s a pretty laugh. She feels like no matter how many times she hears it, she’ll always keep noticing it and how pretty it is.

“She was confident, and she gave me- she gave me these _looks_ ,” she continues without meaning to. The words fall out, one by one, but she doesn’t feel like stopping them. “Like I was the only thing she wanted to be looking at right then. Like I was the only thing that _mattered_.”

Piper bites her lip. Reyna lets out a small sound- almost like a sigh. “I know. She gave me those, too.”

That doesn’t sting as bad as Piper thought it would have. They sit in silence, until Piper lets her head hit the frame of her bed with a loud _thump_.

“We’re hopeless.”

Reyna barks a laugh again, and it makes Piper’s chest feel fuzzy.

“Yeah.”


End file.
